Braided Rug

We made a braided rug out of old clothes.

When the pioneers were busy settling America they didn't have a huge amount of available resources. Recycling was a top priority and fabrics were frequently used in several different ways before being discarded.When clothes were too worn or too small, it was possible to reuse them by making them into a rug for the floor.

Pioneers would have used clothing available, but we had lots to choose from. The first step was selecting materials for the rug from the large pile of old stained clothes.

Next, the shirts were cut into strips about 3/4 of an inch wide.

Three strips were selected to start with. They were tied together in a knot and then braided.

 The braid was coiled into a circle and hand-stitched into place.

 

Next, additional strips were knotted to the end of each strip as they ran out. It was important that each strip ran out at a different place, so the knots would not be clumped together. The braid was continually coiled and stitched into a circle.

Progress was rapidly viewed at the initial stages of this project as the circle required only a short length of braid to grow in length. However, as the diameter increased it seemed like a lot more effort was required for the rug to grow.


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