I updated my sheets during a Christmas Sale. Mine were old and getting that "time to replace" kind of feel to them. Now, there are A LOT of things one can do with sheets. I have made curtains out of them. I have made slings out of them. Tablecloths, pajamas, skirts, you name it.
But these were red sheets, faded red sheets (I also have very faded black ones I'm trying to find a purpose for) and I just didn't think they'd look good as any of that.
I was so inspired by
Sew Liberated's braided rug that I wanted to make my own.
Beautiful, isn't it? But reading about making it and starting to braid, myself, and seeing how much work it would actually be, I chickened out. Nevertheless, it is GORGEOUS and I hope I'll have the patience (and variety of cloth!) to make one someday.
Meanwhile I looked into crocheting a rug. YouTube has a lot of videos about that and while I was browsing those trying to see if this is what I actually want to do I came across toothbrush rugs. This video was the best I found for demonstrating how you actually do this and it was FAST!
This is the first video but you need to watch the whole series.
I just used a big safety pin on mine, it worked fine. See how they look! The white is from a thrifted sheet set. It has red and black stripes. It's easy to make the strips. These are 100% cotton sheets and with a little snip they'll tear pretty evenly. Sometimes you'll get uneven edges but that's because they aren't 100% square.
So I decided to make two small rugs. First I made a circle rug which looked pretty weird and then I tried an oval rug which I liked a lot better because I knew what I was doing. I should have taken a picture, but we just could not get that circle to lay flat! I even tried washing it and drying it flat but it refused. I had made it too tight. It became the family "Chinese hat" instead so I decided to take it apart and add it to the other oval and make a bigger one.
It is perfect for standing on while doing dishes and is SO comfy under our feet! This is definitely something you have to get a feel for so if you choose to do one, give yourself some leeway on your first and make it a practice rug.
I found this incredibly relaxing to make. A little here and there and it was done in a week. I am currently saving pieces from blue and yellow sheets to make another one, a big one, for the kids' rooms.
My next project? I finally finished a repurposed jeans shoulder bag I'll be blogging about soon (once I get around to uploading pictures) and I have a tan sheet I found that closely matches my very old slipcover for my very old couch. The slip cover has a gaping hole in the seat courtesy of life and my three year old. I haven't decided exactly what I'll do with it yet, but once I do it I'll post about it. Have you made anything from old sheets or large swaths of fabric? Tell me about it! Share a link!