Making a t-shirt rug
I made a braided rug out of the t-shirt scraps left over from my t-shirt quilt project (which I haven’t finished yet). The process is pretty simple. First, make long strips of fabric. The strips are knotted together to make balls of ribbon. Then you take three strips and braid them together, making a long rope. You can either keep going or put a clothes pin at the end and start sewing the rug together, to test the length.
Here’s what I learned from my first attempt:
- It’s much easier to braid holding your work taut. Use a clothes pin or clamp.
- Oval is much easier than round. When you’re making a round rug, it tends to make a bowl shape. Mine did, so I sewed a circle of felt in the center to try to tamp it down.
- A rug is not a hat of any kind, don’t let your family try to tell you otherwise.
- Use embroidery thread, it’s stronger.
- A piece of cardboard can help keep your work flat while you’re sewing it together.
Now I know another post-apocalyptic skill. Assuming it’s the kind of apocalypse where you can have rugs.
All the best apocalypses have rugs.