It's occurred to me that the two projects I'm working on right now are both for my new bedroom. I've always been awful at decorating, I tend to just go for ugly utilitarian furniture. But I'm trying to make an effort to make our new apartment a little more homey and pleasant on the eyes. I finally bought a bedside table for the bedroom, and stopped using one of Seamus's old amps to put our alarm clock on. Baby steps!
The backing and batting for the Irish Chain quilt finally arrived. I couldn't find an extra wide backing fabric I liked enough to justify the cost, so I bought 9 yards of a normal width fabric on sale. I think the busy multicolored floral is a good match for the busyness of the front. I'm now waiting for a chance to get to school to use the print tables to baste it together--I don't have enough floor space in my house for it.
I've also wanted to get some rugs for the apartment, we have pretty rough wood floors, and I think they're going to be cold in the winter. But any rugs I liked were too expensive, and any that were cheap were ugly and gross feeling, so I decide to make a braided rug.
$9 from the thrift store for starting materials. I washed and dried them to get the 'thrift store smell' out. Then I cut them apart and cut into 2" strips.
Strips joined and wound into balls! The knit fabrics fold onto themselves really nicely and leave a clean edged tube. I went for florals, blues, and purples, and each braid has a light, medium, and dark tone. I figure it will go well with the new quilt, and I have a neat painting on the wall that's largely a periwinkle tone.
So far I've got yards and yards of braid, but I'm only just starting to spiral it into a circle.
Your braid rug is very inspiring! I've always wanted to try my hand at one of these. May I ask how you join the strips? Do you just tie them together, or do you have a fancier method?
ReplyDeleteCate--I joined them the same way you join together bias strips, with a 45 degree angle to minimize bulk. There's a good diagram on how to do that here: https://sew4home.com/tips-resources/sewing-tips-tricks/bias-tape-how-make-it-attach-it
ReplyDeleteIt's been really easy so far, you should definitely try it out!
Aha! That seems fairly simple. I'm definitely going to have to give this a go. I love the idea of using t-shirts for this project. I have a kitty who loves to shred rugs, but I think the t-shirt material would hold up better. Plus, I just love the folksy look of braided rugs.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!