I stitch them, using a double strand of quilting thread or upholstery thread, and my stitches are about 3/16ths to 1/4th of an inch apart. I place the stitches in the inside center of the braid loops, so that they hardly show at all; and because they are in the center, the stress on them when they are walked upon is the same no matter which side is on top. It takes time; but it's worth it to make the rug last.
This is not a project I would ever try to knock out in a week; but rather just pick up now and again when I know I'll have some waiting for my car to be fixed time or open-eyed prayer time.
The width of your strips determines how thick your rug will be, how wide the braid loops will be and how many stitches they will need. The ones I pictured above are regular medium-weight jersey cut in approx. 3" width strips, joined at a slant so they won't make a hard lump where sewn together lengthwise. Each braid gets two or three stitches to secure it to the next row. The rug ends up 1/2" to 3/4" thick before it's walked down.
Starting is hard -- Fold the long edges of your three starting strips inwards towards their own backs and fold again so all cut edges are farthest inside, and tack the three strips together with one or two stitches, so they can still fan out to braid. Make sure one strip extends out a little longer so it can be stitched over to cover the other two at the starting point. Trim the end of that long one in a half circle, do a running stitch around the edge and pull it tight to make a little cup. Tease the edges inside.
Start the braid. When you have braided a foot or so, go back and sew that little cup down over the ends of the other two strips to seal up the cut ends. Then start stitching your braid coil around this center "butt." This is the hardest part, so experiment first on a test braid.
I am right-handed, so when starting the circle, I work with the loose braid on top and the already-sewn part below, counter-clockwise from the center butt out and around.
To fasten one row to the next, insert the needle into the lower braid loop in its inside center. Then pierce up into the inside center of the braid loop that you are attaching above it, come back down 3/16" to the left in that same upper loop and pierce the lower loop again.
By then you should be able to move the needle into the next lower loop on the left and come upward again, repeating the method. When you have to change to new thread, knot on the inside of a loop, and start your next thread little behind, stitching an inch or two again in the loops you just finished, so there isn't a weak spot.
Sometimes it takes two stitches from one braid loop to the next, sometimes three; use your best judgment. Do make sure your thread doesn't knot up when you pull it through. I insert my finger into the lower and upper braid loops when positioning the needle, and then into the loop of the thread as I pull it through so it doesn't tangle.
The various fabrics can be easier or harder to pierce. I use a thimble or wax the needle sometimes. It helps immensely to prewash your fabrics and use liquid fabric softener!
As your braid strand gets longer, lay it flat and coil the braid around and check that the color pattern is pleasing. Don't stitch or braid too far without checking —I've pulled out many a foot of sewn braid rows because something just didn't look good and I should have checked. Stitch a few feet, braid a few more feet, check; repeat.
To get even tension while making the next section of braid, I throw the sewn center part over the back of a chair that faces where I'm sitting.
When coiling each new length of braid around the already-sewn center, it's helpful to put it flat on a table and attach the new row with a safety pin every few inches , rather than just eyeballing it in your lap. Once it's pinned, you can certainly stitch it in comfort in your easy chair.
You want the outer rows of braid to be stretchier than the inner rows of coils, so that when the rug will eventually be walked upon, there will be enough "give" as it's flattened out—so avoid stretching the outer braid tight, or you'll end up with a cone in the middle!
I keep going until I can count the same number of rows out from the center butt in every direction. You'll want to taper your your strips a little narrower lengthwise a foot or two from the end and secure the end point of the braid a similar way as the beginning.
After you have it sewn together, hold it up to the light and rotate it 360 degrees so you can see if there are any weak spots that need to have some reinforcement stitches. Wish I knew how to make you a video! LOL!
As I read through your directions, I was just thinking: a video would be very helpful!
Thanks for the detailed instructions. I figured you had a good method of sewing the braids to hide stitches & also doing it in such a way as to have a sturdy end product & thus a long life :-)
I was going to say….you need to make a how-to video demonstration of these wonderful rugs that you make ;-)
Thanks for posting the pics and description, on how to make.