My First Braided Rug

Remember this hopeful post? It was successful! I've always wanted to make one of these, and the girls at A Beautiful Mess made it possible by posting their lovely how-to.

I used an old canvas tote bag for the base - I snipped the handles off and snipped up the sites. I ironed it out before gluing the strips on.

Emma decided to take a nap inside one of the pieces of fabric I was using.

My strips were uneven, but it didn't really show in the finished product. Knit fabric was a great choice for this project - it stretched and the braids are super soft and squishy.

I shut the ends in a drawer and braided the long strips that way. The tutorial says your strips of fabric should be 2.5 times the length of your canvas. I found this to be a bit excessive actually, but better safe than sorry! 

I had blue, green, red, one strip of brown, tan, and orange. I think it looks almost rustic and country-ish. I squirted tacky glue onto the canvas and laid out the braids, pressing down firmly to stick the braids to the canvas. So far it's held up nicely! 

Love it! It was small, but it was the perfect addition to my room. 

Oh yeah, and when I 'bound off' the edges, the tutorial says to actually tack down the ends to the canvas using needle and yarn. I didn't do that - I just took a long length of cotton thread and tied off the ends.

I hope this inspired you to make a rug of your own! It's fulfilling, adds a little something extra to any room, and if you have a junky old canvas bag to use, all the better! Happy crafting. :)