Locker hooking
CostLow
Includes: A locker hook, rug canvas, locking yarn or twine, fabric strips or yarn, edge binding Example: A locker hook is around €6-10, and rug canvas roughly €10-15 per piece
What it is
Picture rug-making that uses a crochet hook with an eye in the other end, threaded like a needle, and you have the odd, satisfying hybrid that is locker hooking. Strips of fabric or yarn get pulled up through a rug canvas into a row of loops, and then a length of yarn run through the eye is threaded back through all those loops to lock them down. The result is a dense, hard-wearing rug or mat with a looped pile, made with a single inexpensive tool.
What sets it apart from latch hooking is that the loops stay as loops rather than being cut into a knotted pile, and that a locking yarn holds entire rows at once instead of each piece being knotted individually. This makes it fast and forgiving, and it happily eats up fabric strips, making it a favourite for using torn-up old sheets, T-shirts, and remnants into something useful.
The materials are humble and that is the appeal. A roll of rug canvas, a locker hook, locking yarn or twine, and a pile of fabric strips or chunky yarn. People drawn to it tend to like the thrift angle, since a colourful rug can come almost entirely from a fabric stash and a charity-shop bag of old linens.
It produces sturdy homeware, mats, rugs, baskets, seat pads, that take real use, and the rhythm of hooking loops and locking rows is steady and meditative.
How it works
Cut your fabric strips to a consistent width, because uneven strips give a lumpy, irregular pile that no amount of careful hooking will fix. For most rug canvas, strips around 2 to 3cm wide work well, and a rotary cutter with a mat makes quick, even work of cutting up sheets or T-shirt fabric. Wind the strips into balls so they feed smoothly, since chasing loose tangled strips kills the rhythm.
Understand the two-part motion that defines the craft. Using the hooked end of the locker hook, you pull loops of your fabric or yarn up through the canvas holes, gathering a row of loops onto the shaft of the hook. Then you thread locking yarn through the eye at the hook's other end and draw it back through that whole row of loops, which locks them in place. Loop up, then lock through, repeat.
Keep your loop height even and your locking yarn tension relaxed. Loops pulled to wildly different heights look messy, so aim for consistency, and the locking yarn should run through firmly enough to hold but not so tight that it gathers and distorts the canvas. Work in rows across the canvas, and bind or hem the edges when the piece is finished so it wears well underfoot.
Plan colours roughly before starting, as fabric strips are harder to unpick than they look.
Benefits
What you need
Here's what to gather before you start. The essentials are marked.
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FAQs
The loops stay as loops and a yarn locks whole rows at once. In latch hooking, each short piece of yarn is individually knotted and the pile is cut, while locker hooking pulls up continuous loops and threads a locking yarn through an entire row to secure them. This makes locker hooking faster, since you are not tying thousands of separate knots, and it gives a looped rather than cut-pile surface. It also handles fabric strips especially well.
Yes, that is one of its best features. Long strips cut from worn bed sheets, T-shirts, and fabric offcuts hook up beautifully and make colourful, hard-wearing rugs almost for free. Cut the fabric into even strips around 2 to 3cm wide, wind them into balls, and hook them just like yarn. Many people take up locker hooking specifically to use a fabric stash or charity-shop linens into something useful.
Around 2 to 3cm for standard rug canvas. Too narrow and the strips are fiddly and give a thin pile, too wide and they bunch and will not pull cleanly through the canvas holes. Keeping the width consistent matters most, since uneven strips produce a lumpy surface, so a rotary cutter and mat are worth using for speed and accuracy. Test a few loops first to confirm the width feeds and sits well.
Most often because the loop heights vary. Pulling some loops tall and others short gives a scruffy surface, so aim to hook every loop to the same height, using a finger or a thin gauge stick as a guide if needed. Inconsistent strip widths add to the problem, as does pulling the locking yarn too tight, which puckers the canvas. Even loops, even strips, and relaxed locking tension together give a smooth, dense finish.
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