Making a Rug from Sheets

Well the project has decided to be a rug.  It is made from two sheets.  One a dark green cotton and the other a flannel with a rose pattern.  There is a little trouble with the tension and keeping it flat.  When it is finished I will go back with some cotton quilting thread to reinforce it.

Close up of sheet.

As part of organizing the house I was trying to see what I could do with old sheets. Earlier this week I gave up and was going to take the sheets to the Goodwill. Then I remembered the cotton core rugs. The flower sheets were the first set I bought for myself, and I love them. So I wanted to keep them a little longer if I could. They are over 20 years old but still have some life to them. If this rug works out I have a lot more sheets that need to be recycled.

Close up of rug.

A closer look it is really cute!

Some how to pictures. 

How to start

Picture of toothbrush tool.

Start by wrapping the cotton cording with fabric.

Bend the wrapped cording into a rounded shape.

Keep coiling the wrapped cording until there is enough
coiled so that you can start sewing into the previous round.

How to weave the rug.

The 1 inch sheet strip is going under the cotton cording.

The fabric is being wrapped around the cording two or
three times with a little overlap.

Next the fabric is pulled back to front through a space
on the previous round.  You can see the blue

toothbrush tool.  It makes this step really easy.

Fabric being pulled to the front of the rug.  I am
making the strips the full length of the sheet.

Final step the fabric is on top of the rug.  It now needs
to go under the cording and starts the wrapping again.

I hope that someone is inspired to try this easy rug making technique.  The cording was 29 cents a yard and the tool was $3.00.  All together the project was under $10.00!  Not bad for such a pretty rug!  If you would like more information please leave a comment.

Rug or Basket?

Now that I'm finally done with chocolate, I'll share other stuff I've been doing.  I have been working on a bracelet design and learning to use a snowflake frame.  Neither has been working out!  I'm half way through another book tutorial, this one is an accordion style with a secret! 

So I thought I would go in a completely new direction.  I am trying to make a big soft basket or a rug.  Today I bought 20 yards of cotton cording for the base from Beverly's Crafts here in Santa Maria.  They had several sizes but I got the 1 inch diameter cording.  It is very soft so it would probably be better as a rug.  At first I thought of using some cotton yarn for the weaving.  Now I'm thinking of tearing up some fabric that I bought a couple years ago to make rugs with! It was under $3 a yard so that isn't to bad.  There are also a lot of bed linens that need to be recycled.

Right before the wedding I bought a toothbrush rug tool so I may try that method.  There is a nice video on making toothbrush rugs.

 http://www.ragrugcafe.com/toothbrush-rugs-complete-video-instructions-part-1-beginners

Always too many projects!  We will see if I can make rugs this week!