Braided Area Rugs are a great way to liven up your living area very inexpensively and they are a lot of fun to do.
I got interested in braided rugs because I do a lot of other fabric crafts and I had a lot of leftover fabric in different colors and sizes that I wanted to use up. Once I started making braided area rugs I got completely hooked on it, they are so much fun to do.
Start by choosing any fabric you like. It can have a pattern, it can be a solid color, it can be scraps, you can mix and match all different fabrics, anything you like. Almost any fabric at all is going to come out to make a nice rug when you are finished.
Go along the shelvage edge of each piece that you are planning on using for your braided area rug. Use scissors to cut a notch in the shelvage edge about every 1½ inches to 2 inches all along one shelvage edge of each piece of fabric that you plan to use.
Now tear your fabric on each of the cuts you just made. Just grab and pull, and it should tear all the way across from shelvage edge to shelvage edge. If you have children this is a great project to have them help with. While you hold on to the larger piece, have a child grab one of the cut bits and then walk or run away from you as it tears. My kids thought this was so much fun!
Now you’ll start the braiding. Choose two pieces that are about the same size. On one piece find a place about a third of the way in from the end and fold it there. Take a second piece and put one end of it at the point where you folded so that you now have three pieces dangling down of three different lengths. Then start braiding, right side over the center, left side over the new center, right side over the center, left side over the new center, over and over. Just like you braid hair with three strands.
As you come to the end of each strand you’ll add on a new piece. When you have an inch or two left just overlap the new piece and the old piece and pinch them together as you make the next couple of turns so that they stay together until they are woven into the braid. The reason you started with three different lengths is so that you don’t have to try to replace all three of them when they run out at the same time. By staggering them they should all run out at the different times. It makes it easier to work with.
Keep on adding new pieces as you come to end of an old piece until you run out of fabric. You can add the pieces in any order it doesn’t matter which colors go on first, or whether you are using the same three colors at any given time. It will come out interesting and pretty no matter what.
When you get to the end of your fabric and have no more pieces to add, use a hand needle to run a few quick stitches through the end just to keep it from unraveling while you work. Then using the end you started with, fold four to six inches over so that the braid is still facing upward but 4 to 6 inches of the braid are laying side by side. Use a needle and thread to run a stitch back and forth between those two pieces and tighten it down so that the two pieces lay tightly side by side (with a very, very long tail hanging off one of the pieces).
Using that very, very long braid that you still have on one end wrap it around the two sections that you have stitched together already, and then stitch it in place as well making sure that you are pulling the stitches are tight so that the braids lay directly against each other. When you come to the end, turn round the corner and continue on the other side.
Continue stitching the new braid to the oval shape that you’ve made keep. Keep going around and around in this fashion until you run out of braid. When you come to the end of your braided section use a few extra stitches just to close off that end and hold it in place at the end of your rug.
These directions have been for an oval shaped rug. If you prefer another shape you simply need to start in the center a bit differently. Instead taking 4 to 6 inches and lying them side by side, to begin with you might want to start with a different shape. For instance you could start coiling it in a circle immediately and come out with a circle. Another option is to twist those first two inches into a heart shape so that you are finished rug ends up in the shape of a large heart. Be creative and you can come up with plenty of other geometrical shapes that will work as well.
Your new braided area rug will be washable, and dryable just like the cloth that it was made from. If you have used old clothes to rip your original strips of cloth from, you can expect your braided area rug to be just as washable as the clothes that it was made from.
This is a great way to recycle odd bits of fabric and leftover clothing into something fun and useful for your home.
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