This project uses a mix of creativity and sheer tenacity – but the end result is well worthwhile. A very soft floor rug that can easily be thrown in the wash as its made from t-shirt material. Have fun with the colour combinations.
Shopping List
- Jersey cut into strips of 2.5” wide by material width (ours is 170cm). You can use more or less strips pending the finished size you are after, for this particular project we used the following:
- 9 Strips of white
- 6 Strips of blue
- 12 Strips
- Cotton
- Some pegs or bulldog clips
- A weight (a terracotta pot will do the trick)
- Sewing Machine with adjustable presser foot – Singer Heavy Duty
- A little bit of tenacity
Cutting
- Cut the jersey into the 2.5 inch strips.
NOTE: To make this job quick, we used the AccuQuilt GO! Cutter and GO! Strip die (AQ55017). We had 30 strips cut in 10 minutes using the AccuQuilt GO! cutter.
Construction
Note:The colour changes for the Super Hero themed rug pictured are as follows: white plait, 2 x blue plaits, 2 x red plaits, 2 x white plaits, 2 x red plaits. If you plait and sew as you go you can see where the colour change needs to be.
- Sew the ends of three of the strips together using a straight stitch.
- Using your weight on the sewn end of the strips, start to plait the first length. When you get approx. 20cm to the end, use a peg to hold the plait in place.
- Wrap the sewn end around in a coil and (this is where the tenacity comes in handy) push the end under the sewing machine presser foot. You want to place the rug so when you sew, the rug is on the left side of your machine and only the outer row is under the sewing machine throat.
- Using a zig zag stitch on the widest setting to sew the sides of the plait together, going around and around until you get to the peg.
- Remove the rug and using a straight stitch sew the next 3 strips onto the ends of the already plaited and sewn strips.
- Continue plaiting and sewing in this fashion until you reach the end, clipping any extra plaits shorter as needed.
- When you reach the end, simply sew off the end of the final plait piece so the plait doesn’t come undone, then laying it flat, find a ‘tidy’ spot to tuck the tail underneath so it vanishes as it winds around. Sew this into place using the zig zag stitch.
