You know how friendship bracelets are totally back? Well, I can't quite bring myself to get into it after 15 years but I love the bright colors, the patterns, the idea of it....It got me thinking where else I could apply the process and I thought it'd be fun to make a huge friendship bracelet that you could walk on. You know, given my love of all things oversized. After multiple attempts I came up with this rug for the new Chalkboard Magazine (it's awesome. Check it out here). Any other size is too thick to actually use. The one you see here is two final rugs stitched together.
Materials: 2 sets of 5 colors of fabric, 8-10" wide and 3 meters long; scissors, needle, thread, tape
Step 2: Mirror the colors on the other side of the line so that there are 10 pieces.
Step 3: With the first piece of fabric (mine is pink) on the left, make the number 4 with the second piece (dark blue here).
Step 4: Put the first piece under the second piece and tie it, bringing it up to the top.
Step 6: Work from the other side, moving from the right to the center. Make sure to reverse the number 4.
Step 7: When the two pinks meet in the middle, tie them together.
Step 8: Go onto the next row (the dark blue) and repeat the process.
Photography by Liv Colliander
Step 9: Work until you’ve finished your desired length. Mine is 31″ from the outer points.
Step 10: Begin a new one and repeat the process in the same color order.
Step 11: Stitch the two together with a needle and thread. I stitched mine so that they go opposite ways.
Step 12: Cut the ends off so that they hide into the first layer of color.
Step 13: Stich the ends to the first layer so it’s secure and can’t wiggle out.
Step 10: Begin a new one and repeat the process in the same color order.
Step 11: Stitch the two together with a needle and thread. I stitched mine so that they go opposite ways.
Step 12: Cut the ends off so that they hide into the first layer of color.
Step 13: Stich the ends to the first layer so it’s secure and can’t wiggle out.
Step 14: Voila!
59 comments:
Oh my goodness, Miss B you are amazing! I love this.
This is seriously clever. Really subtle way to use a trend to make it your own.
So nice...
Hej fra Maja B
This is soooou brilliant, you and your ideas!!
Fabulous! Love it!
That's a great idea! Thanks!
Genevieve
You are my hero. I'm obsessed with making rugs.
well I'll be danged. this is so neat-o! you're brilliant, miss B. truly.
Love it. Very clever.
This is great! What fabric did you use?
This is so cute! I am going to try this!
love it! those colors are amazing
Well i never...i used to make those all the time at school. Great idea...thanks for sharing
Mxo
Love the yellow shoes!
so clever!
Thanks so much for your comments, guys.
@Jami, I used cotton poplins for the fabric. It was the cheapest I could find while still looking good.
This is really beautiful. What a wonderful idea!
can u machine wash it?
Lovelove this! So gorgeous. Brings me right back to 5th grade and spending hours making friendship bracelets. (At one point my BFF and I tried to start a "business" to sell them...We sadly found out that everyone made their own and didn't want to pay money for one.)
@kay ah nuh--yes! totally washable! but to be super safe, I'd wash the fabrics independently first.
@heather...that's hilarious! the beauty of DIYs....
I'm a tad confused.
You tie with the first color (pink) from one end to the center, then from the opposite to the other. You tie off in the middle. You continue in with the next color (dark blue), etc. If I am tying each color off in the middle, how does my rug continue to get longer? It seems it should just be 5 stripes long (because you used 5 colors) but yours is clearly 30 or so stripes long. How did you continue the repeating pattern downward (pink, dark blue, etc.)
@Em, The repeating will come because the fabric strips are long enough to keep on going. That might seem confusing...Are you to the point of repeating yet? It should just keep on going regardless if the colors has already been used...email me if that doesn't make sense. brittanywatson@gmail.com
Wow! That looks great! Now I just have to find large pieces of old fabrics to make one myself! Thanks for the inspiration =)
beautiful idea... gonna try it soon!
great idea, this looks great!!
Beautiful! I especially love the shoes! Do you know what brand they are?? :)
@Becc, yes they are Swedish Hasbeens. I found them at a flea market here in Copenhagen, but you can find them everywhere online.
this is so pretty! I featured this on my blog, here: http://punkprojects.blogspot.com/2012/02/make-it-monday_27.html
-Katie
This is a fabulous idea. I'll be it would work very well with cotton/cotton blend interlock knits
Wow, I love how you changed the scale of something that's usually so tiny and dainty. On a scale of 1-I-want-to-poke-my-eyes-out, how much effort did it require? I really want to make one...
@Kristy, You could definitely make it larger by adding on more of the same size as shown here, but I wouldn't recommend enlarging the size/thickness of the fabric unless you want the rug to be really really thick and then you'd need tons more fabric. This little rug turned how to be much more expensive than I was hoping it to be.
@make it and do it girl...the tough part for me was just figuring out how to make it, but because you don't have to figure that out then it's pretty easy beazy. If you can make a friendship bracelet, you can make this. I'd say it is a bit more physically demanding because you have to bend over to make it so it might take a toll on your back, but that's it really. You should try!
Thank you, this is a great idea!
Love this - I like the fabric braided rugs or the crocheted ones but this seems more modern to me. One thing I realized when making it is that the amount of fabric suggested only makes one section of rug (mine is about 30 inches long by 11 inches wide) - so half the intended size. Just a tip for anyone else making one :)
I have a question - why do some pieces of fabric look shorter than others in the images? It looks like the dark grey/blue piece is significantly shorter than the pink and the yellow. Thanks! Looking forward to this project.
cool!
@Allie...Because I recreated the DIY for the photoshoot and didn't have enough fabric left over to have full strands ;) but yes, technically, they should all be very long.
Hello!
I just dropped by to say that I hope you don’t mind being featured on my blog’s weekly Top 5 Diy Tuesday with this tutorial of yours. If you don’t want to be included just let me know :) You have such an amazing and inspirational blog!
But here’s the link to my post where this tutorial can be found: http://featherandflock.blogspot.com/2012/05/top-5-diy-tuesday.html
I am nearly done with a rug of this style (using your tutorial- Thank you!) but using strips from old pants. My strips are thinner so I am connecting three of the sections together instead of just two. I think it looks pretty cool. I will probably finish it tomorrow.
@abbi Very cool! I'd love to see how it turns out when you're done :)
This is a great article! I found this site Braided Rugs to be good if you are looking for Braided rugs for your home!
Your rug is so very cute and I've got this linked to my rugs post too today, for inspiration!
it looks absolutely great!
I linked to your tutorial on my blog - thanks for sharing!
doro K.
Absolutely loved this! I decided to mix it up a bit and used different textured fabric. I used tulle, cotton, and fleece (used thinner strips to compensate for the fabrics thickness) and it looks great in my dorm room. Your DIYs are perfect for decorating my bland dorm, keep up the wonderful work!
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Tyvek
wristbands
What a great idea!
Reminds me of making those stringy friendship bracelets, but on a larger scale. Fantastic idea!
Wow! I love your resourcefulness in producing thinking out this kind of design. I bet I could also use this one in designing my file cases and folders to make them look more attractive.
Very nice and resourceful. I think I'm gonna create one myself for our home, though I will have to pick a color that will look nice with our carpeted floor.
You constantly render me speechless with your amazing ideas and love for the artistic and lovely. Thanks for being a "style-spiration!"
This rug is the answer for completing my preppy yellow interiors! How do I get it cleaned, though?
awesome DIY, brilliant, love it
I used a two pairs of pants and some scrap fabric, stitched together to make strips. It's a lot of work! and Definitely will need a long length of fabric to make the full rug. Such a great idea! Thanks for sharing it
I am really inspired by this blog post. Thanks for this beautiful post. Isthatnew
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