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Christmas Braided Rugs Once upon a time, rag balls were a necessity. Our great grandmothers, grandmothers and mothers wound lengths of torn fabric scraps into balls to be used later for braided rugs, rag dolls, woven potholders or, perhaps a colorful braided leash for the dog. There’s no telling how many creative uses our ancestors came up for scrap fabric with as they watched the sun set while darning the children’s socks. Today, odds are that rag balls are more decorative than functional for most folks. They are simple to make, colorful and as fancy as you want them to be. So go to your sewing drawer or closet and get out some scraps of fabric that are too large to toss away (but not quite large enough to make into anything in particular). You’ll be recycling and having fun at the same time. Enjoy, PS This is a great project for kids!
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For both versions, you'll need:
Styrofoam™ METHOD You'll also need:
Tear or cut your fabric into 3/4 inch strips for a 3-inch ball. The wider the diameter of the ball, the wider the strips can be, but be careful not to make them too wide (1 ½ inch max), or they won’t lie flat against the rounded surface of your ball.
Begin wrapping one Styrofoam™ ball horizontally, vertically and diagonally until all the Styrofoam™ is completely covered. Change colors of fabric strips, coordinate colors or use one color. It’s up to you and the look you want to achieve. Hot glue any loose ends or pin them in place with decorative pins.
SOLID RAG BALL METHOD Use 1 to 2 yards of fabric per ball to make a 3 inch to 6 inch diameter solid rag ball without Styrofoam™. If you want to make your rag balls just like your Grammy did, don’t use a Styrofoam™ ball as a filler. Begin wrapping long strips around the fingers and thumb of one hand about ten times. Slip the loops off your fingers and fold in half. Start wrapping more strips around and around the folded loops going in different directions and forming a ball. If your strip ends, tie on another, pulling the knot tightly to minimize it. If the knot leaves a bump or if the fabric is too heavy to tie, you can pin or tuck the end into your ball and keep on wrapping until your ball is as large as you want it. Do not use glue to secure your rag ball if you might use the rags at a later time for another craft.
HANDY HINT If you want a longer length strip for eventual use in a braided rug and you don’t want to sew your pieces together, try this. Begin cutting/tearing, whatever your desired width of each strip is from the left edge, stopping your cut/tear one inch from the end of the fabric. Then, start cutting/tearing your second line right next to the first, but from the opposite end of the fabric, again stopping one inch from the end. Continue this pattern and you will get one very long rag strip. If you’re confused at first, try it on a small sheet of paper. You can cut several layers of fabric at one time with this method and speed up the process.
DECORATING YOUR RAG BALLS AS ORNAMENTS Leave your rag balls plain or make them into ornaments to hang or heap into a decorative bowl. Trim with buttons, ribbon, lace, charms, whatever you choose. Secure the trimmings with hot glue or decorative pins. (I used pearlized headed multi-colored straight pins.)
As I write this article, I have my decorated rag balls hanging from a tension rod across the hallway to the bedrooms, several inches from the ceiling. I’ll move the tension rod around the house to the guest bedroom window and, perhaps, the kitchen doorway. A wire basket is undoubtedly in their future as is a Christmas tree. |
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