Braided Rugs

Braided rugs are beautiful showpieces. You may have entered the home of someone who prides themselves on their whimsical tastes and interior decorating, and you may have seen a braided rug either hung in a place of honor or placed on the floor in such a place as not to invite too much foot traffic. The amazing colorfulness of braided area rugs make them wonderful addition to otherwise neutrally colored hallways and rooms, and while cheap braided rugs are available on flea markets and even some department stores, there are many who look for books with braided rug directions to make their own.

Hobbyists take heart in the fact that it is relatively easy to make your own braided wool rugs or braided rugs from other materials as well. The goal of many braided rug instructions is not to have the hobbyist create a specific kind of rug – such as a knitting booklet would enable someone to create an identical sweater to someone else’s handiwork – but instead to help those who are already adept with some artisan crafting techniques to make their own rectangular braided rug with just a few simple, new techniques that are easy to learn, and even more fun to implement.

Instructions for making braided rugs stress the notion that how to make braided rugs is not as important as expressing yourself while doing so. Thus, the purists among those who want to learn how to make a braided rug will rarely – if ever – follow specific instructions to make a certain kind of pink braided rugs and instead will look to making their own version of the American delight braided rugs. If you are ready to begin work on your own, unique braided area rug – perhaps a couple of chenille braided rugs or wool braided rugs – here are some tips:

• Braided rugs thrive on your imagination. Consider using discarded clothes, blankets, and sheets.
  
• Cut the materials into strips which are no more than one and one half to two inches wide.
  
• For truly unique braided rugs, use differently textured materials.
  
• Connect the strips with thread and then roll them up into a number of balls.
  
• Use fishing line when sewing the braids together. The more heavy duty the line, the more sturdy the rug design will be.
  
• As you sew, make sure that the surface you are working on is perfectly flat or you will be inadvertently create somewhat of a bowl, and even if it is not that pronounced, the shape will continue to take form in this way, and the rug will not be workable in the long run. If you wish, you may run a few test stitches and return later on to sew all of it together when the test stitches reveal that the shape is as desired.