I’m so happy with my braided wool rug that I’ve been working on over the past few weeks. I finished it over the weekend and couldn’t wait to put it with my favorite chair!

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I used my mom’s tools and instruction book from the 1960’s to get started (along with a little help from Youtube). It’s not perfect but I learned a lot and was almost sad for it to end.

Braiding is so meditative and relaxing. (Of course I don’t recommend having a big pile of wool on your lap in the summer without access to air conditioning!) The three strands of the braid are really ideal for achieving the ombre effect because you can swap out one color at a time to make a progression as the rug grows.

It used a boatload of fabric. (I will weigh it and figure out just how much exactly) The fabric is melton wool, 12 colors in all! The benefit of wool is that it’s very malleable and forgiving of mistakes (love that) and it’s so soft and squishy under foot! Plus wool is crazy durable and lasts for-ev-er. I’ve seen rugs braided from T-shirts and denim but in my opinion nothing matches the beauty and versatility of wool.

I’m currently planning my next project and will most likely repurpose a thrifted wool coat for materials and maybe combine it with wool yardage. I’m also thinking about putting together my own instructions in the form of a basic video class. Would you be interested? If so be sure to stay tuned here or better yet, join my email list for news and updates delivered straight to your inbox! Sign up here!