Braided Rugs: How to Make Your Own Braided Rugs!

Braided Rugs- How to Make Your Own!

Adding a beautiful handmade piece to your home is a great reason for pride. It may be hard to believe that making braided rugs can be so easy, all while coming out great each time, but it's true when you just follow this how-to for making braided rugs!

Picking your fabric- The most common rug fabrics are wool and cotton. When picking out fabric, you want to pick three or four colors that can accent the color of your room and current decor. You can even use many colors for more of a stand out effect.

The condition of your chosen fabric will dictate how long your rug will last, so use new or close to new material.

When making braided rugs, it is important to properly prepare your fabric braiding strips. Cut your fabric into different strips from one to three inches wide. You should factor in weight of fabric when picking width. Heavier fabric for braided rugs will be better  if you use narrow strips, and vice versa. Sew your strips together diagonally. You want them to be able to be folded for braiding without a thick area of a seam. It's important to keep all of your strips the same basic thickness, or else your finished braided rug will ripple up from thicker strips. For your strips, take each side of each strip and fold it to the center of that particular strip, and then fold the strip in half. Slip stitching your strips is optional but it may make braiding easier for you. Then, wind your strips around a roll of cardboard.

If you want, you can use a braider for strip folding. These metal cones have your strips fed through them and fold in the raw edges. This makes nice and even braids for easier and faster folding.

Braiding Braided Rugs- This described braid is the traditional three strand braid. Even though it is simple to do, keep these tips in mind to get the best outcome possible. Use three prepared strips, and at the ends, sew them together. However, only sew eight or so feet of strips at one time, or the braid will get tangled. Attach the end of your braid to something that is stable. In your head, number stripes from one to three and begin braiding. Put strip 3 over the middle strip, and then under strip 1. Keep doing this until you have a few yards braided, then start sewing the rug together.

Rug Shape- There's many different shapes for braided rugs, here, we'll discuss a couple.If it's an oval rug you want, start with the center braid and make sure it is as long as what the difference is between the width and length of a finished rug. (Example: A 6x9 rug needs a 3 ft center braid. 8x10 or 4x6 rug needs a center braid of 2 feet) Turn the braid and fold it back to equal length in a hairpin type of shape. Lace or sew the two ends together. Lacing will make a rug reversible. Keep going round and round with the sewing on the core of the rug with a big needle and carpet thread. Don't stretch out the braiding strip when you're lacing or sewing.

A round rug is about the same, except you start in a spiral form

For a rectangle rug, take the beginning braid and make it more than twice as long as the overall length of the rug. When measuring this braid, make sure you leave at least an inch for each foot extra, since it could be lost in the first lacing. Pin the braid at first braid's length and cut the braid near the pin. Lift up the second braid back to the start of the first braid and lace the two together. Make sure you match the loops of the braids so that you have a nice pattern. Its best to lace your third braid over to the opposite side of the first braid, and to keep lacing to alternate sides as you add braids. This way, you'll have a nice straight and flat rug with the braiding being nice and even. Once you get to the size you want, stitch each end to secure your braids, and stitch on rug binding tape all the way across both of your ends.

Lacing Braided Rugs- Down the straight sides of he rug, the loops of your braids are beside each other to create an open "V". Use a curved needle and carpet thread and lace through the alternat loops of adjoining braids. Once a rug starts to curve, we use another method. For the proper fullness to keep a rug nice and flat, you need to increase it by lacing the thread through 2 loops on a new braid and keep going through alternate loops on the rug. Make sure you incread enough on each curve so that the rug can lie flat.

Once the rug is done, you might want to press it with a wet cloth and iron. Then, sit back and enjoy your work! Make more braided rugs to give as gifts or sell and make some extra income!