How to Make a Braided Rug – the Perfect Recycling Craft

In today’s fast fashion and consumerism world, textiles account for 22% of total global mixed waste. The average consumer in the UK and US wastes 30kg of materials each year.

This level of waste is unsustainable. While recycling is only part of the solution, re-using fabrics is one way to take individual responsibility for our waste.

What you need to make a braided rug.

• Strips of fabric (see below for details)
• Needle and Strong Thread
• Scissors

I decided to make a rectangular rug to sit in front of our stove.

My finished rug measures approximately 80cm x 50cm, made from 20 braids.

Each braid is made from 3 strips that range between 7cm and 10 cm wide and between 100cm and 120 cm long.

I used a mixture of cotton and poly-cotton fabric for my braided rug. You can use old textiles such as bedding or clothing such as tee-shirts and denim to make rag rugs.

How to make a braided rug.

Start by cutting your fabric into lengths to be braided. I made 20 braids, so I used 60 strips of fabric.

To start, I sewed three strips together at one end to secure them, as shown in the photo below. In each group of 3 strips, I tried to include light, dark and bright coloured fabric to make a pretty braid.

Once I had braided the strips of fabric, I used a few stitches to secure the second end.

Once you have all the braids, arrange them into any order you like, with the best side of the braid facing up before sewing them together.

I hand sewed my braided rug together, working, so the stitching sat on the less neat side of the mat.

And here is my finished braided rug. As you can see, my cat is adamant that I lovingly crafted it for him.

The mat probably took me about 4 hours to make and was very easy from start to finish. It’s the perfect craft for working on while sitting in front of the TV.