Wonderful, warm and woolly!
Soft, colourful, sustainable and fabulously easy to work with, our Ragged Life Woollen Blanket Yarn has become one of the most-loved materials in the rag rugging world. Made from reclaimed wool blanket selvedges sourced directly from British mills, these ready-to-use strips are ideal for rug hooking, proggy mats, peg loom weaving, locker hooking, braided rug making, twining, weaving and all sorts of textured textile projects.
Whether you’re making your very first rag rug or planning an intricate heirloom piece, blanket yarn is a fantastic material to work with. It’s beautifully tactile, beginner-friendly and creates a chunky, luxurious finish that’s hard not to fall in love with. Below we've pulled together some key information but if you've got any questions at all then feel free to reach out.
What is Blanket Yarn?
Our Ragged Life blanket yarn isn’t spun yarn in the traditional sense. It’s the selvedge strips trimmed from wool blankets during the manufacturing process in British mills. Rather than allowing these beautiful woollen offcuts to go to waste, we rescue them and turn them into colourful bundles ready for crafting.
The strips are soft, 100% wool and wonderfully forgiving to work with. As they’re already cut into strips, they save hours of fabric prep and make starting a rag rug project incredibly easy.
What's more, we source our blanket selvedges from a variety of different mills which means that each yarn is completely unique, with subtle variations in texture, tone and strip width adding to the handmade charm of finished projects. We also have plenty of choice with over 500 variants to choose from!
Why Crafters Love Blanket Yarn:
There’s a reason so many of our customers become completely hooked on blanket yarn once they try it!
Soft & Easy to Work With
The wool strips glide beautifully through hessian, are gentle on the hands and soft underfoot, making them especially popular with beginners.
Ready-Made Strips
For most rug making techniques, you don't need to do any prep to the blanket yarn... it's ready to go. This means less time cutting and more time creating!
Sustainable & Reclaimed
Our blanket yarn is made from reclaimed British wool textile waste that would otherwise be discarded. Posh recycling is what we call it.
Unsurpassed Quality
Many of our yarns are offcuts from luxury brands (the only ones still manufactured in the UK) - you'll struggle to find such quality wool at a better price anywhere.
Which Techniques is it Suitable for?
Blanket Yarn works beautifully across a range of rag rugging and textile techniques.
Rug Hooking (Loopy Technique)
Probably our favourite way to use blanket yarn! The soft wool loops look super premium and feel amazing to walk on. We usually cut the blanket yarn strips up the middle lengthways when rug hooking to make them less chunky.
Peg Loom Weaving
Also a favourite! As blanket yarn is nice and chunky and comes in one long continuous strip, you can peg loom weave a rug in just a few hours. Don't believe us? Watch it in action here.
Proggy / Short Shaggy Techniques
Traditional proggy (shaggy) rugs were made using woollen materials, so blanket yarn is a great fit - ultimate cosiness for hard floors!
Braided / Braid-In Rugs
Blanket yarn is the perfect width and thickness for braided rugs to build quickly. Cut out the tassels for the perfect length of strip.
Twining - Rugs & Baskets
Once again, our woollen selvedge strips are the perfect width and thickness for twined crafts. Cut the tassels out for optimum lengths.
Locker Hooking
Similar to rug hooking, blanket yarn should be cut down the middle lengthways for locker hooking, but works perfectly in that format.
Weaving & Textile Art
Many of our customers also use blanket yarn in weaving and mixed media textile projects. We've even seen it used as bias binding!
Key Facts about our Blanket Selvedges
Strips generally vary between 2cm and 4cm in width, although most sit just under the 3cm mark. You can generally get a good idea from individual photos.
The fibre content also varies between yarns depending on the blankets they originated from. Some are lambswool, others contain cashmere and we even get the occasional mohair blend. If a particular yarn contains a noticeable amount of cashmere and feels especially soft and luxurious, we’ll often include “cashmere” in the product name to help customers identify it.
We generally sell our blanket yarn by weight rather than length, as we find this gives a much better indication of how much coverage you’ll get for rag rug projects. Thicker yarns naturally fill space more quickly than finer ones, so length alone can be misleading. However, if you’re curious, each ball generally contains somewhere between 30 and 50 metres of blanket yarn.
Most of our blanket yarn balls are connected together into one long continuous strip. This strip is made up of shorter lengths of blanket joined together using tasselled sections from the original blankets. For most rug making techniques, we simply cut these tassels out and work with the woven wool sections only. One lovely exception is peg loom weaving, where we often leave the tassels in to add extra texture and character to the finished piece.
What is Weaving Yarn?
As we source our wool blanket yarn from a number of different British mills, the texture and weave of the selvedge strips can vary quite a lot. Some are tightly woven and smooth, while others are fluffier or more loosely constructed. We’ve decided to list these more textured varieties on the website as “weaving yarn” so customers can choose them intentionally for the right types of projects.
Our weaving yarns are perfect for adding texture and interest to crafts such as peg loom weaving, twining, ribbon weaving and textile art. However, because the weave is looser, they’re not quite as suitable for techniques that benefit from a firmer structure, such as rug hooking, locker hooking, proggy mats or the short shaggy rag rug technique. In general, any method where the strips are cut down the middle lengthways won’t work as well with weaving yarns, as the looser weave can fray or separate more easily. As weaving yarns can be used for fewer techniques, we've priced them cheaper than our regular blanket yarns, so you may just pick up a bargain...
Rag Rugging with Blanket Yarn Video
Here you can watch a video where we talk through the blanket yarn in more detail and show you exactly what to expect when working with it. Unsure what we mean by the tassels? Here you can see exactly what we mean!
Tips for Working WIth Blanket Yarn
It's chunky...
So we recommend cutting most blanket yarns up the centre lengthways when rug hooking, locker hooking or using the short shaggy technique. This will make most yarns approx 1.5 in width.
It has tassels...
As selvedge strips from blankets, blanket yarn is made up of lengths of woven blanket attached together by the tassels which would be at the beginning and end of a traditional blanket. For most techniques, we cut these tassels out, but for peg loom weaving we leave them in and they simply become part of the pattern.
It's textured...
If you're looking for a very clean look then avoid our more textured weaving yarns. The tighter the weave of the yarn, the cleaner the appearance.
Embrace Pattern...
Many of our blanket yarns are patterned (we love a tartan). These allow you to build interest into a design without much work!
Save Your Smaller Scraps
Even tiny leftover pieces can be used for smaller projects, such as our Ragged Life Mini Wreaths.
A few FAQs:
Is blanket yarn made from real wool?
Yes, our blanket yarn is made from reclaimed wool blanket selvedges sourced from British mills.
Is blanket yarn suitable for beginners?
Absolutely. In fact, many beginners find it easier to work with than recycled fabric strips because it builds quickly and is already prepared into strips.
Can I wash projects made from blanket yarn?
Yes, although you would treat it like any woollen item. We recommend gentle hand washing or careful spot cleaning where possible. You watch our YouTube video with tips on washing rag rugs here.
Can I mix blanket yarn with recycled fabrics?
Definitely! Many makers combine blanket yarn with recycled clothing or fabric scraps for extra texture and contrast.
FAQs Continued...
What do I do if I run out of a yarn partway through a project?
If you can't find the specific yarn you used on the website still then get in touch. We sometimes have yarns unballed up (so not on the website yet) or we can look out for the yarn when we next visit the mills. If in doubt about quantities then we'd recommend buying more balls as you can always return ones you don't use.
How do I join strips together?
For techniques such as twining or braided rag rugs you can join strips together using either a no-sew buttonhole join or bias join on a sewing machine. You can watch how to do these joins on our Ragged Life YouTube channel here.
How Much Blanket Yarn Will I Need?
One of the questions we get asked most often! The amount you’ll need depends on your technique, how densely you work and the overall size of your project.
To make a 100 x 60cm rug you'd need approximately the below quantity of blanket yarn per technique:
Proggy rug - 2kg (8 x balls)
Rug hooked rug - 1kg (4 x balls)
Short shaggy rug - 1.5kg (6 balls)
Peg Loomed rug - 1kg (4 x balls)
Twined rug - 1.5kg (6 x balls)
Locker hooked rug - 1kg (4 x balls)
Braid-in rug (100cm diameter circle) - 1.5kg (6 x balls)
Please remember these are estimates and every maker works slightly differently. If you’re planning a very densely filled project or using lots of detailed colour changes, it’s always worth ordering a little extra. We accept returns if you've ordered too much.
Our blanket yarn has been used to create everything from bold geometric rugs to soft floral wall hangings. Here are just a few students' projects to inspire!
We absolutely love seeing what our customers make with blanket yarn. If you’d like your project featured on this page, make sure to tag us on social media using #RaggedLife or email any photos over.
Ready to Start your Next Project?
You can buy blanket yarn in a few different formats across the Ragged Life Online Shop.
The classic way to buy our blanket yarn is in our signature 250g balls. These are perfect if you’re looking for a larger quantity of one particular colour or shade family. As a rough guide, one 250g ball will fill approximately one 40 x 40cm cushion front when using the rug hooking technique.
If you’re working on a more colourful or detailed project, we also offer smaller quantities of blanket yarn in two alternative formats - a Blanket Yarn Pick and Mix listing where you can select smaller quantities of specific colours and a 1kg Blanket yarn Lucky Dip pack.
You can browse each option below to find the blanket yarn format that best suits your next project...
Pick & Mix Blanket Yarn
If you’re working on a more colourful or detailed project, we also offer smaller quantities of blanket yarn in two alternative formats.
Our Pick & Mix option allows you to choose specific colours of blanket yarn in shorter lengths and smaller quantities. This is ideal if you’d like to work with a wider range of colours without committing to full-sized balls. Many customers use this option for detailed designs, colour blending or smaller projects where lots of different shades are needed in smaller amounts.
1kg Lucky Dip Pack - 100% Wool Blanket Yarn
For those who love a surprise (and a bargain!), we also offer 1kg Lucky Dip Packs. These contain a minimum of 10 smaller balls of blanket yarn in a wide variety of mixed shades. With this option, you don’t get to choose the exact colours you receive, which is reflected in the lower price. They’re fantastic for experimentation, stash building, beginner projects and anyone who enjoys working creatively with unexpected colour combinations.
Get Inspired
We absolutely love seeing what people create with our blanket yarn, so don’t forget to share your projects with us on social media using the hashtag #raggedlife. Whether it’s a bright geometric rug, a textured weaving project or your very first sampler piece, your creations help inspire the whole Ragged Life community.
You can also follow Ragged Life on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube for tutorials, new product launches, colour inspiration and plenty of behind-the-scenes rag rugging content.
And finally, make sure to sign up to our newsletter below to be the first to hear about new blanket yarn drops, exclusive offers, workshops and fresh project ideas straight from the Ragged Life studio.
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