I started making braids from sheets I collected at yard sales, thrift shops and estate sales beginning
See what I mean? Adorable, isn't it?
last Spring after I saw a cool rag rug project on Pinterest. I experimented with the width of the sizes of strips I cut to braid and now use one inch to two inch strips, depending how thick I want the braids to be.
I still haven't gotten around to making that rag rug I first thought of, but I have discovered some exceptional ways to use the braids.
I realized any DIY that requires rope could also be tried with braided fabric. Who was I to stick with rope when I could completely dive into my chosen - cottage - style aesthetic repurposing sheets?
This project serves several purposes. I am a writer, and this way to display photos and images from a shelf above my desk can be used not only to be pretty and warm and delighting, it can also provide images for my writing. I have a dictionary page I painted with my word of the year, "BOLD". I have a favored photo from a couple summers ago of my daughters and me. I have a photo overlay I created that includes poet Sarah Teasdale.
I got adorable hooks on clearance at a local fabric/craft sale Sunday and used them both as a way to hook photos to the braid and as a way to attach the braid to pots on the shelf. I originally thought I would use some christmas stocking hangers but I couldn't find any. I also thought I would use clothes pins, but I am saving them for a project that is in my head and has yet to make it to the keyboard.
I love it when a project is adorable, easy, costs practically nothing and has a utilitarian purpose as well. Hooray for braided rag rug projects that multiply into other cool stuff!
Julie Jordan Scott is a writer, performance poet, Mommy and mixed-media artist. Her word-love themed art will be for sale at a First Friday soon, when it is warmer than it was in December!, in Downtown Bakersfield. Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.
Please stay in touch: Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot
