Dress Up Your Door Mat : 10 Steps (with Pictures)

A front door mat is called a “Welcome mat” for a reason. It’s one of the first things people see when arriving at your door.

If you need something serviceable but inviting, here’s a fresh way to add colour and cuteness to a cheap black rubber mat. It’s a way to say “Welcome”, without the words. The flowers and leaves woven into this mat are made from old kids’ singlets. You can use any type of jersey cotton but stretch cotton material is necessary to weave around the holes easily. We used singlets for the flowers and an old T-shirt for the green leaves (because we had no green singlets). The rubber mat with circular holes came from Bunnings* for less than $10. *For non-Australians it’s a big box hardware/DIY/home store

Step 1: Materials You’ll Need

1 black rubber door mat

We found this at Bunnings

3 colours of cotton singlets or stretch jersey cotton (for flowers) – yellow, blue, red.

We used Bonds brand kids’ singlets in pale orange, blue, red.

1 green singlet (for leaves) or jersey cotton scraps

scissors

Step 2:

Thread the first colour onto a needle, and thread up through the hole leaving a tail of about 5cm at the back. Use this hole as the ‘centre’ of the flower, which connects the ‘petals’.

Step 3:

Weave the strip over the rubber, into the hole alongside it, then up through the centre hole again.

Step 4:

Work your way around the centre hole, until you’ve completed the circle.

Step 5:

Flip the mat over and tie the end with the loose tail into a knot.

Step 6:

While still on the reverse side of the mat, thread the loose tails back under a couple of the other loops, so there are none showing.

Step 7:

Step 8:

To create the leaves, use the green singlet cut into strips (or cotton scrap). Use the same technique, but only weave over two loops (to suggest a leaf), and position between two flowers, or next to a flower. Not every flower needs leaves, just some. Flip over the mat and tie in a tight knot. Trim the ends and tuck under the loops if you have spare.

Step 9:

Continue until you have all the flowers in positions you want. Here we have flowers on the top and bottom of the left side, and a small cluster on the bottom right. Or, create your own design! If grouping flowers, have an uneven number to create a cluster, otherwise it looks too symmetrical.