The Rag Rug - still a work in progress!

 

So, I finally finished sewing together the rag rug from my giant ball of cord made from scrap material and scrap batting.  I have made a few other smaller rugs, but this one just kept going, and finished up as a 6 foot by 5 foot oval.  

Unfortunately, the edges are tight, and the rug cups up significantly.   I tried weighting down the edges to see if I could flatten it out, and I corraled my trusty quilt holder husband into helping me pull it to try to do the same, but it still is pretty off. 

Even Judy can tell that something is amiss! 

I started out with that huge ball, and took my sewing machine to the dining room table, knowing I'd need more space to hold the weight of the piece. 

It started out looking good! 

It soon got too large for my sewing surface, so I piled up books and boxes to enlarge the space.  

I had a bag of older threads that I don't usually use for quilting, and decided to use those for this project, which uses an unbelievable amount of thread! 

As the piece got bigger, I added more supports, and checked it occasionally on the floor to make sure it was more or less flat.  I wasn't too concerned about the few errant little bumps.

I think the problems happened near the end, when I was rushing a bit to clear the table for our little ZOOM Thanksgiving.   I probably needed to really slow down and support it more.  

Even near the end, it didn't appear to be too off.  

Here are the empty spools from this project!  

What to do?  I am thinking that I might take off the final 5 or so rounds to see if I can redo them.  A friend had suggested sticking it under my wool run to flatten it, but I think the edge cupping is too much.  I thought about cutting it, and then sticking in a wedge, but that would look crappy!  I like this rug, and want to do it right, but I am also trying to finish a college class, and get ready for Christmas, and get to work on the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt.  I may roll up the rug, and tuck away until after the New Year.

Anyone have any other suggestions on how to make this work, or what I could have done differently?  I'd appreciate any feedback or thoughts.

Take care,

Gretchen