thumb|250px|right|alt=Photo of woman making a rug|Woman passing a [[Shuttle (weaving)|shuttle through the warp on a loom.]]
A rug is a piece of cloth, similar to a carpet, but it does not span the width of a room and is not attached to the floor. It is generally used as a floor covering, or as a decorative feature.
Braided
Braided rugs are made by using three or more strips of fabric, usually wool, folding the raw edges to the middle and braiding them together. For an oval rug the centre braid should be one inch longer than the width-length in feet. example 2' x 4' rug centre strip would be 2'2" long. The centre braid is laced together and new strips are sewn on to make the braid longer as lacing continues.
Hooking
thumb|right|140px|A latch hook for rugmaking.
Traditional rug hooking is a craft in which rugs are made by pulling loops of yarn or fabric through a stiff woven base such as burlap, linen, rug warp or monks cloth. The loops are pulled through the backing material by using a latch hook mounted in a handle (usually wood) for leverage.
Prodded
Proddy rugs are made, as the name implies, by prodding or poking strips of fabric through hessian or linen from the back side. Rag rugs made this way have many names, such as clippies, stobbies, clippers and peggies. In Northumberland they are called proggy mats, and in Scotland they are called clootie mats. They were often made for more utilitarian use such as by the back door, their pile hiding dirt well.
The Museum of English Rural Life has a collection of rug-making tools and thrift rugs.