My first braided rug

As a little girl, I've often seen my grandmother make what she called a "tapis natté". I guess you could translate that by "braided carpet" even though I've seen it more referred to as a rag rug. She used to buy these big balls of synthetic fabric already cut in small stripes. Maybe polyester or rayon, anyway it was kind of shiny on one side. I loved to play with this chunky yarn, especially the small scraps left behind in the end (she kept them in a plastic tub just for the grand kids to play with). My cousin and I were always asked to help when we were home with her. I untangled happily the stripes as she braided them, even braiding them myself sometimes.

 I often wondered where I could find this yarn that she used. I haven't seen any in stores in the recent years. You see, our apartment is somewhat not well isolated and the floors are cold, especially in the kitchen which lead me to think back on those carpets. A big one, right in front of the sink would be perfect, I though to myself...

At the same time, I'm at a point where I'm trying to take control of my craft stash. I need to stop it from growing and keep only what I will use and enjoy crafting with. All of this brought me to try and make my own fabric yarn. As you might know, there are many instructions out there on how to make yarn from old t-shirts and that's exactly what I did. In my humble fabric stash, I have some old clothes that I keep for future sewing projects, many of them were men's t-shirt. The colors weren't so pretty but I also happened to have a couple of dye boxes. So, I started by cutting 5 Large t-shirts in one inch large, long long stripes and dyed them in small batches in an old pot on the stovetop.

 

This took me quite a while to finish, cutting, dyeing, washing the different colors of stripes. Then, I braided. And braided. And braided! Arranging the colors as the pile of braided yarn grew bigger and bigger. When I had used maybe half of the yarn I had, I laid the braid on the floor. Arranged it as I wanted the rug to look and checking how much more yarn I needed to braided. When I thought I had enough, I started to sew the braid together. I guess you could sew it with a strong machine and heavy thread but I like hand sewing.

Here is the result. It's cozy and It keeps my feet a little warmer when I wash the dishes.

 

I guess my grandma would be proud of me, reusing old clothes to make something useful and comfy. She did pass me a lot of knowledge and I'm really grateful for that.

What is hand quilting?

What's this? What are you doing? People kept asking me this week, on my breaks and lunches. Hand quilting I said. What is it, why are you doing this?

                                   I'll probably use this fabric to make myself a little pouch to carry some of                                                my current patchwork project pieces, to sew a little on the go.

I started quilting a bit of printed cotton and synthetic felt together as a practice before making a real piece and I kind of got hooked haha. But really, what is quilting and what are it's uses?

Quilting is a sewing technique, that can be done by hand or by machine, that serves to join usually two or three layers of fabric. Generally, you would have a top layer of decorative fabric, sometimes a patchwork of colourful cottons, sometimes just a plain piece of fabric. Underneath this one, you would find a layer of insulating material called "batting" (it can be wool, cotton or synthetic material). Finally, there would be another layer of plain fabric to "sandwich" the batting.

These layers of fabric would be put one over the other and sewn together either by machine or by hand. If the piece is quilted by hand, it would be mounted on a quilting frame or hoop (this is what I'm using right now, because I have a really small piece). Lots of people seems to be hand-quilting using the "running stitch" method, which means that the stitching is worked by passing the needle in and out of the fabric (producing many stitches at a time). For the moment, I prefer the "stabbing" method. It takes longer, because it produces only one stitch at a time (you have to stab your needle down the fabric, pull the thread and start again but stabbing it up etc) but I prefer the look of it. It feels like I better control the size of my stitches and their direction.

Now, where would you use quilting? Often it is find in quilts, either whole cloth or patchwork blanket as I mentioned earlier. From middle age through 19th century quilting was used in clothing and bedding. Quilting is used to keep layers of fabric together. Instead of lets say, three thin blankets, you would have one thicker, warmer blanket  (easier to handle than three layers...). While quilting, one would often use patterns for the sewing lines. Instead of plain lines or waves you would find on a commercial bed cover, quilting can follow any design you'd like. So not only does it make you blanket warmer and sturdier, It also make it more elaborate and pretty. Finally, we could also say that it serve as an heritage. Passing on a quilt, to someone you love, is giving your time, love and efforts along with a beautiful and useful object.