The Rug Is Done!

The braided t-shirt rug is all finished!  I put the last stitch in this afternoon.  I decided I wasn’t going to go an extra round of three more t-shirts as my hand was beginning to hurt from all the hand stitching.  It was really becoming a nuisance, with some sharp pain,  so I stopped.

As for the hand stitching I started out using a carpet thread and stab stitching.

You can see the carpet thread to the right in the above photo.  Later on I decided to switch to a smaller diameter of thread so ended up using a quilting thread.  Both were challenging but I do find that the carpet thread portion appears to be holding a little better.  I was probably the way I sewed it and not necessarily the thread.

In the beginning…you can see how much of my stitching shows up on the right side.  I was stab stitching the braid from the right side.  After a few rounds you can also see my progress…eventually getting it to be a little hidden.

For the change in thread I found it faster to sew from the wrong side and basically whip stitch the braid at every turn of the braid. You can see a little bit of that here.  To end the rug I wove the three ropes back into the loops, cut and whip stitched in place. I think next time I make one of these rugs I’m going to try and figure out how I can sew the braids together by machine.  Always the researcher that I am I found this little movie on Youtube…look at how fast these rugs are made and LOOK at the sewing being done to put the rug together.  This is Thorndike Mills and make sure you watch to the end and see the HUGE sewing tables.  WOW!

I am so there!

~Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

~Cathy