Braid a Rug

[Adapted from Braiding Rugs by Nancy Bubel]

The craft of rug braiding, like so many other good things, is rooted in necessity. People of an earlier day found that they could use what they had — in this case, “rags” of worn clothing — to create the rugs they needed for warmth on the drafty floors of their inefficiently heated homes. Less of a practical necessity now, a beautifully braided rug can be the focal point of a room.

Sewing the Strips

  1. 1. Sew a strip of color A to a strip of color B in a bias seam.
  2. 2. Fold color C into a four-ply tube-strip with the raw edges inside.
  3. 3. Fold the raw edges of strip AB in to meet at the center of the strip.
  4. 4. Insert the raw edge of folded strip C at the seam joining colors A and B and sew firmly in place.
  5. 5. Fold the top half of strip AB down to cover the raw edges of strip C. You can now have a “T” with color C sandwiched between layer 1 and 2 and layer 3 and 4 of strip AB.

Braiding

  1. 6. Put C over A toward the left.
  2. 7. Put B over C toward the right.
  3. 8. Put A over B.
  4. 9. Repeat the braiding steps until you reach your desired length, and mark the end of the starting braid with a safety pin. The projected length of the rug minus its projected width equals the length of the starting braid, plus a few inches to make up for shrinkage. To make a 7' × 9' rug, your starting braid should be 2' 3".
  5. 10. Double the braid back on itself so that you have two rows of braids side by side. Force both sections of the braid to lie flat as you form this rounded corner.

Lacing the Rug

  1. 11. Thread your bodkin (a blunt needle) with a double strand of heavy button-and-carpet thread about a yard long.
  2. 12. Knot the end of the thread and, starting at the pin-marked corner, poke the bodkin between the braid folds.
  3. 13. Take several stitches to secure the thread and then begin to lace by inserting the bodkin through every other braid fold, alternating from left to right. Pull firmly with your right hand as you hold the braids flat with your left.
  4. 14. For the first six to ten rounds — at the corners only — the stitches on the body of the rug must be closer together than those on the braid you’re attaching. So after lacing through a loop on the outer braid, and then through the next loop on the body of the rug, you then skip a loop on the outer braid and lace the following loop to the very next loop on the body of the rug.
  5. 15. Complete the rug by tapering the last 6 to 8 inches of the braid. To do this, trim each strip so that it tapers to about half its original width at the cut end. Braid these narrow ends, carefully rolling in the edges, and lace the tapered butt firmly to the rug, retracing the last few lacing stitches for extra firmness. Leave a 2 to 3-inch length of the lacing thread and weave it back between the braids, using a crochet hook, to form a secure, invisible ending.