Snug as a Bug in a Braided Rug
(Page 2 of 4)
November/December 1971
by Miriam Fraier Korshak
To utilize all of a piece of fabric, you can cut the strands either lengthwise or crosswise . . . but not diagonally. Completely dismantle one whole garment and cut it up (strands will be of varying lengths) before you begin on another.
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JOINING THE STRANDS
Suppose you've just slashed one Class A olive drab Army uniform into 3" wide ribbons. The next step is to join all the pieces of this particular fabric into one continuous strand.
Each piece is sewed to the others with a bias seam (Figure 2). That is, overlap two strips at right angles and sew diagonally across the corner. If you don't have a machine, use strong thread and sew by hand. Then cut away the "excess" triangular corner and press the seam open and flat with your fingers. Add the next piece to either end and continue joining strips until you have one long strand of-in this case-olive drab.
FOLDING
After an entire garment is transformed into a single long ribbon, begin at one end of the strip and fold each side in one-half inch. Fold the cloth again in the center and pin through all thicknesses. The strand-ready for braiding-will then be 1 " wide and four layers thick (Figure 3).
ROLLING THE BALLS
Now begin to roll the folded end of the strip, turning in the next few inches as you go. Fold and roll until the whole strand has been transformed into a compact ball (Figure 4). Fasten the end to the ball with a safety pin.
Some heavy weights of wool are easier to handle if they're lightly moistened before you do this folding and rolling . . . an automatic pressing process takes place in the firm ball and the strand is not likely to unfold when you open the ball for braiding.
After one entire coat, skirt, or whatever has been cut, joined, folded, rolled and balled, use the same procedure on the next piece of fabric . . . and the next . . . until your pile of discards has been turned into a box of multi-colored, vari-sized balls. You can either begin to braid at this point, or you can wait until you've collected more material.
If you have a 9' X 12' rug in mind, though, don't feel that you have to amass all the necessary wool before beginning. You need only 3 pounds of finished balls to make a 2' X 3' oval rug and you can easily enlarge it to 3' X 4' after the next rummage sale and, finally, to 9' X 12' whenever time and materials permit. In the meantime, you can go right ahead and use the floor covering.
Here's a guide to what's needed for various sized rugs:
COLOR
Most rugs seem to "balance" best if the center is lightish and the final outer edge dark . . . what goes in between is purely dependent on the mood and scavenging ability of the rugmaker.
Some old timers used to bleach and dye their fabrics to obtain hard-to-get colors, but that was before such a wealth of ready rug materials became free for the asking. Today there seems to be no problem collecting enough colors to make an interesting rug.
