Make Braided Rugs, How to Braid Rugs

Perhaps the most possible rug for every one to make at home is the handmade braided rug, because the work requires no special tools or equipment. Just a large coarse needle and some very strong thread are all that is needed. Regular linen carpet-thread can be purchased in any notion department or from a carpet-store.

Select the heavier wools and the velvets for this kind of rug-making, so that your finished mat will have body. In the woven rug the warp gave additional weight, and in the hooked rug, told about later on, the canvas backing gives it firmness. But whether a braided rug will lie flat on the floor without wrinkling depends entirely upon the kind of material selected.

So choose firm materials, preferably wool or velvet, bleach and dye where necessary, and cut them into one-inch-wide strips. They may be cut either on the bias or straight of the material. The latter is preferable because the strips will have less stretch. However, if the material is of the kind that ravels readily, cutting it on the bias would be the better way. In any case, the two ways of cutting the strips will not work well in the same rug because the "give" or stretch will be too uneven; either all bias or all straight strips for the whole rug. If it is to be of velveteen the strips should be cut one and a half inches wide and folded through the center so that the cotton back will not show and the rug will be reversible.

The joining of the strips can be accomplished by simply overlapping. But it is much easier to braid them if they are all sewed together and each color rolled into a separate ball. The joining will be least thick if the two ends are cut on long biases and one lapped over the other for half an inch and sewed flat. They should be sewed by machine, of course. It is quicker.

The braid itself is either the simple three-or four-strand kind. And usually the effect is more pleasing if the strands are all the same color. Different colors can be introduced as bands or stripes when sewing the braid together.

It is easier to make round or elliptical rugs than it is to make those of rectangular shape. A paper pattern just the size and shape that the rug is to be when finished is a great help in keeping the work symmetrical. And the widths of the stripes can be marked off on this, too.

The sewing starts with the center and the beginning end must be securely sewed. If the rug is to be elliptical this "end" is a foot or more long, and acts as a foundation for the rest of the braid to coil about. It is a good plan to lay out a length of braid on the floor and wind about it several times in order to be sure of just what beginning length is needed for the proportions of the desired ellipse. An elliptical rug has a tendency to approach a circle as its size increases, so be sure to take a long foundation.

As to the color schemes of braided rugs, the suggestions that were made for the woven rugs apply as well to the braided kind, with this addition, a color at least as dark as the darkest tone in the body of the rug is more effective for the outer finishing border than a light color would be.

Continue: How to Crochet Rugs.