The strips of cloth for making rag carpet are usually formed into a long string or rope by stitching the ends together with cotton or thread, a process not only tedious, but taking no little time. To obviate this, a handy tool, or needle, can easily be made from a small piece of clock spring, the end of an old table knife, or any thin piece of steel. Make the needle about one inch and a half long, and either turn it up at right angles to form a foot, by heating it in the fire first, or drill a hole in one end for an ordinary wood screw. In the former case, a thumb-screw clamp can be used to hold the needle to the table. The other end of the needle is to be formed with a Y-shaped point, fairly sharp. Just below the point a slot is made about one-eighth of an inch wide by half an inch long, or long enough to pass the ends of the pieces of cloth through.

Fig. 270 - Rag Carpet Needle.

To sew the pieces together, which can be done very rapidly, after a little practice, press one end of a length of cloth down upon the needle until it passes the eye. Likewise, one end of another piece is pressed down upon the first. The other end of either piece is then threaded through the eye for a short distance, as shown in Fig. 270. The whole is then lifted up until the threaded end falls below the other two, when it is pulled all the way through. It will be found that these joinings are perfectly flat and satisfactory.

Two styles of clamps are shown, one with a foot, to be held to the table by means of a thumb-screw clamp, and the other with a screw attachment, to be held on the edge of the table by means of an ordinary wood screw.