Little House in the RedWoods- Braided Rugs

Making a Braided Rug.  I cannot recall how the idea came to me.  But something led me down the path of looking up how to make braided rugs on the internet.  They are so beautiful.  Primitive.  Resourceful.  And though time consuming,  are not very difficult to make.  

Trial run of making a braided rug out of my
box of fabric remnants

I wanted to make a rug for my dining room, to go under our table. And we have a trap door down to the basement that could use a rug as well.  I decided I would test out the braided rug process with fabric remnants that I already had, in order to decide if this was a project I really wanted to do.  I hate abandoning projects and leaving them unfinished.  I enjoyed the process of making this first rug, however it turned out quite small.  It fits nicely at my kitchen sink.

After making this rug, I discovered a few quirks.  The edges curl and there are areas that bubble up.  Hand sewing this rug just about killed the nerves in my fingertips as well.  So I decided to problem solve and see if there were solutions to the problems I found with my first rug.  

I found a woman with a series of wonderful YouTube videos, who details the correct process of making a braided rug out of t-shirts. You can find her at Prairie Adventures Braided Rug tutorials.  I wish I would have found her videos before I made my first rug. From her videos I learned how to make a turning braid, to avoid the bubbling spots.  I also learned a better way to sewing the rug together- lacing rather than sewing through the fabric. With these few improvements, I decided I was going to investigate the cost of used sheets at our local Salvation Army.  The first time I went in, I discovered they sold individual sheets (any size) for $1.99.  I felt like I had hit a jackpot!  Amazing- so much fabric for such a low price.  I found 5 sheets to buy that day.  And that began my weekly visits to find more sheets.  Based on the sheets I found, my color scheme ranges from navy blue, to grey, light sage greens, white, golden yellow, and 2 fabrics with prints.  

Each evening, over the course of a week, I cut 2 inch strips down the length of each sheet.  First I cut off the seems.  I wrapped them around my hand into little rolls.  Once that was completed, I decided on the order I wanted the colors to be in the braids.  And then I got to start braiding.  

This felt like a lot of fabric while the sheets were still whole.
Now it doesn't look like a lot.

I found somewhere that in order to determine your center braid length, you should figure out the dimensions of the final rug.  You subtract the width from the length, and that is the length you should make your inner braid.  So I started with a 2 1/2' center braid.  Once I had 30" of braid, I worked a turning braid in.  (Prairie Adventures lady demonstrates how to do a turning braid, but you can learn by searching internet as well.) Then braided back to the beginning.  Once I got to the other end, I worked another turning braid.  From there, I decided to start lacing my braids together.  This helped to keep from having an enormous length of braid constantly following me around and making a mess.  It also removed the temptation for my kids to use their imaginations and make a giant knot of my braid- with all the games they came up with the first time around.   And it also helped me to see if I needed to add more turning braids at the corners.  

Here's the current status of my newest braided rug

So far it seems as though the turning braids have greatly diminished the amount of bubbling- though there are still areas that bubble up a tiny bit.  And lacing the braids to the rugs as I go is working better than making the entire length of braid, before lacing it together.  Another difference this time around is that I am sewing the new fabric strips together as I braid.  The first rug I used a method of cutting slits into the ends of the fabric strips and then tying the pieces in.  It was an ok way of doing things, but I decided I wanted it to be a nicer rug- so I am taking the extra time to sew and have essentially a continuous length of fabric for my braid.  

I am quite excited about this new rug and it is turning out great so far.  I have decided that I probably won't use it under my dining room table, but will instead put it in front of our window seat.  It will be better appreciated out in the center of the room, rather than covered by a table and chairs.  Not to mention, this location will save it from getting ruined by spills that happen at a dining room table and wear and tear from the chairs.  But then again, it will be some time before the rug is complete, and I could change my mind once again.  Another location would be in the Laird's "Jungle Corner" of our dining room, where he has all his/ our cool travel souvenirs and decorations, and our "library" of books.  I have been searching for a wingback chair on craigslist for his corner and am off to check one out today.  I think the rug will coordinate with this chair quite nicely- so I am excited to see if we've found our wingback!

Other crafty happenings was inspired and prompted by finding this amazing sheet at Salvation Army when I was buying sheets up in armfuls for my rug.  This was such a sweet find, and it was a king sized sheet, with a darling ruffle already attached.  For $2.99! What a steal.  I am telling you- old sheets are becoming my new favorite fabric for making things. What do you think this sheet is becoming?  There's enough fabric that I have been working on a couple things with it....  Until next week to find out what and how this sheet has been transformed!  


Fun Fact:  You can spot Caroline "Ma" Ingalls working on her braided rug in various episodes of season 1 & 2 (we've just started Season 2).  I started making my first rug, as we had begun watching Little House Season 1, and lady Genevieve was the one who spotted what Ma was doing.  She recognized that Ma was making a rug, because she'd been watching me work on my braids of fabric.