DIY Woven Rug/Bathmat/Wall Tapesty

Wow okay so this is a super fun and easy project to do on a rainy day! I will warn you though, depending on how big you want to make it, it can begin to take up some serious time. You're going to need some patience for this one, but it's well worth it! I've decided to enter it into the Colors of the Rainbow Contest, specifically for the blue entry. If you like this project, I would greatly appreciate you voting for me!! It would mean a lot. (Like, a lot a lot). Anyway, let's jump into it!

Step 1: Supplies

All you need is some cardboard, a boxcutter (or something sharp like scissors or a knife to make slits in the cardboard), and some string/yarn/ribbon- essentially whatever you'd like to weave into it!

Step 2: Making Your "Loom"

For my loom, I traced a tire that we had in our yard after just recently buying a spare for our trailer. Luckily for me, it was the perfect size I was looking for! If you don't have a tire like that just lying around your yard (like most people), then there are a lot of things that you could likely use as well. A few things that come to mind are the top of a stool, a serving tray, a lampshade, or a bowl. My mother once used a hula-hoop, but that size is a bit to ambitious for me, and she got rather frustrated with the amount of time (and ribbon!) it was taking to complete it.

Step 3: Setting Up Your Loom

Measure out from every 2ish inches and make slits with your boxcutter along the way. An important thing to note that I messed up on is I accidentally made an even number of slits, when you need to make an odd number. If you were to make an even number, you wouldn't be able to properly weave you circle. As you can see in the first image in the bottom right "corner" of the circle, I had to skip a few slits because I incorrectly counted. But then upon trying to fix it, I skipped another slit, making me end up with an even number anyway. Awesome. To fix this, upon every full circle you make, you will have to sneakily go over/under two strings instead of one, which is super annoying. So when you have all of these slits, you can thread some yarn across you loom. Because they likely won't match up exactly in the middle, so I tied them together in the middle with a little bit of string.

Step 4: Getting Started With Your Weaving

To start, chose which string you would like to be in the middle. In mine, I tried to start off small, and add larger pieces as I reached the outer rings of my rug. After you choose your starting yarn(or ribbon, fabric, etc.), tie it to the center of where you originally brought the strings together. front there, just thread it in the alternating over-under pattern that you are likely familiar with. If you aren't, the name is rather self-explanatory. all you need to do is bring your yarn (mine in the picture is blue) over your starting yarn (the white one in my photo), then go under it on the next piece of yarn. When you're ready to move on to a different material, all you need to do is tie a knot of your sting you were just working on to the string you want to add. My explanation might sound a little bit confusing, but I think you'll be able to figure it out from the pictures. If not, just ask me down below and I'll get back to you ASAP!

Step 5: Progression and How to Get Creative!

This rug in particular is very meaningful to me, simply because I was able to quite literally weave in some great memories! I added some of the left over fabric that I used in my friends prom dress that I made for her, a batik I made with my mom a while back, some fabric from the first top I ever made, and most recently the graduation dress I made for myself. If you have things like this lying around, I recommend putting them in your project! I'm a bit like a crow when it comes to pretty little bits and bobs. I find myself hoarding scarps of fabric that I have use for just because I want to keep a part of the memories I've made with sewing. This is the perfect way to put those useless pieces of fabric to good use!

Step 6: Finishing Up Your Project

Phew! That took a while! If you can tell in the photos, as the steps progress the lighting changes from light to dark, as this took me the entire day to finish. It was well worth it though! When your happy with the size, you can take you strings out of your loom. What I like to do to finish up the stings is to braid together three parts that are next to each other. After that, I knot them together. I only braid it because it makes it one simple string, making it easier to knot. If you'd like to cut off the tassels you've left behind then have at it. I usually do that, but for some reason I was feeling the tassels. I'll probably cut them a little shorter, or even make some actual tassels. Again though, get creative with it! I'd love to see what you create.

Step 7: Final Product!

There you have it! Show off your rug in you bathroom as a bathmat, hang it up as a tapestry, or do whatever else you'd like! As I said before, I would really appreciate you voting for me in the Colors of the Rainbow Contest if you liked this Instructable! Please share your creations with me if you happen to make anything. I'd love to see what you guys can think of!