Periodically I embark on a project for which I'm neither equipped nor prepared. Often I don't know where the idea has come from, but I happily and confidently take it on, only to realise later, this is why other people get someone else to do it or go buy it from the shop.
The latest project had its beginnings in Son#5 and DIL#5's impending visit a while back. Shortly before they were due to arrive, I decided that I needed a bathmat. Several in fact as mine were looking quite tatty. I couldn't find exactly what I wanted, although I did settle for what was in the shop as time was short. However, on the backburner of my mind an idea began to simmer. I have a lot of old sheets and clothes that I don't need as rags, why not put them to good use and make a rag rug, I mused.
Why, idea!
The idea has been there all this time, gaining momentum, until suddenly this past week it reached boiling point and I decided to pull out my bin of old sheets and clothes. An examination of the contents of the bin assured me that I had more than enough for a rug. I watched a few tutorials which made it seem ridiculously easy, and then proceeded to tear up the old fabrics. As anyone who has done this can attest, this is a dusty process and takes a lot longer than one would expect.
The strips made, I then proceeded to braid and then take those braided strips to the sewing machine where I zigzagged them together. I very quickly changed my plan from making an oval rug and decided on joining strips side by side to make a rectangular rug. The reason for this was simple: as I was joining the strips together, despite all the tutorials and the mental notes I had made, I still somehow ended up with more of a basket shape than a flat rug. Undoing the 'basket' was tedious but I wanted to use all those strips rather than have to braid more since it had taken a decent chunk of time to get that far.
Having cut these strips to the required length of the rug and joined side by side (an easier way, I discovered, that trying to manipulate a large rug under the sewing machine needle, even though I actually didn't progress much past placemat size with my 'basket' rug), to my dismay, I discovered that for all my work I had a laughably narrow rug.
I braided more strips.
And some more.
And then joined them together.
Currently I have a rug that is approximately 29 cm x 107 cm (or 11.75" x 42"). That's right, for twelve hours of work (my estimate) I am the proud owner/maker of a rug that is the size of a table runner.
However, and I guess this is what makes it [almost] worthwhile, I had fun doing the project. I loved seeing the way the different fabrics came together. Since a lot of my strips came from a queen-size white sheet and a queen-size grey sheet those two colours formed the basic colour palette of the rug. The other fabrics were from two of DH's old shirts (that didn't fit any more - promise!), a pair of pants that DH also gave me to use, the bodice from a dress that I am partway remaking into a skirt, an old apron that I couldn't be bothered fixing (the ties had come off), and narrow offcuts from either my patchwork or my mother's dressmaking days.
I'm not sure if I'll continue to add strips and make it bigger and into a rug or if I'll find a use for another table runner. I've made it so that it can be added to in the future so I'm still keeping my options open. Perhaps, I could use it as a table runner for now and a rug later on in the far future (I think it's going to take me that long to finish it).
At this present time, I'm no longer so keen for it to be walked all over. As I said, twelve hours to get to this stage. Since the strips are all prepared, I only have to braid and sew, however I estimate at least another six hours to get to a useable rug width. Add to the total time the cost of the sewing thread (and heavy-duty needles for my sewing machine - although I needed them as I've had my share of breakages sewing hems on my denim skirts with lightweight needles) and it becomes a rather expensive small rug. Obviously, recycling/upcycling isn't necessarily all that frugal. Then again, there is some satisfaction in knowing that all those old fabrics and scraps are being put to some use (then again, next time I could just donate to a used clothing bin).
Whenever I've started a project, especially one like this that doesn't go according to plan, I hate to give up. Not just because I'm stubborn but also because I hate thinking that all that time and effort has gone to waste.
As I think on this, how glad I am that our Heavenly Father does not give up on us and that in God's economy, nothing ever goes to waste. Those past hurts and failures, He can turn to good use. Our struggles, reveal His grace and power. Our fears cause us to depend on Him. And at the cross our sins find forgiveness. No one else can offer us even a fraction of what the Father extends to those who love Him and put their trust in Him.
I may or may not finish my rug, but this I know, God will never give up on me: being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6, KJV.
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