A little update on some of the latest work in our playroom/homeschool room today. We've been deluged with another immense divine bucket-load of snow and so (those of us not hopelessly enamored of shoveling...hello Ru!) have been indoors, holed-up with cozy interior projects.
Today I decided to tackle the bright, no-sew felt rug that I mentioned before. I have learned in the past that a nice rug is one of the best ways to tie a room together, make it look lived in and give it a cohesive, warm feel.
Note to self: Thou shalt have cool rugs.
This particular rug has been picked up on a couple of different blogs and featured...(I'm not the only person out there who likes it! Hello other cool people! *waving*) Alchemy Junk and also Design Dazzle for instance...(Golly, I have something in common with the design blogs.
Yes. Right. Back to the rug.
So, I'm lazy, and impatient so instead of all that boring business in the instructions about printing off the pattern and enlarging onto gigantic graph paper and then cutting out the pattern before you even get your hot little hands onto the felt itself...I just decided..."Let's freehand it." Heh heh heh. (You can see my mark, re-mark, re-re-re-mark pen drawings on the wrong side of the felt below)
I am not necessarily recommending this technique to readers. Directions are good. But, I will say that felt is cheap and sometimes short-cuts work. That's really what I did though....I free-handed it. I sketched with pen on top of the fabric (glancing at the pattern on my iPhone for guidance) and then just went at it with my ballpoint. Then I took the scissors and snip, snip, snipped the whole thing out. The only slightly taxing part of the whole business is cutting out the holes that become the stripes for the top layer. That said, it really isn't bad and if I can do it with an 8 month old climbing me, a two year old bopping back and forth over the fabric and a four year old asking questions, then you can do it too.
After the pieces are all cut out, you just drizzle glue on the layers and sandwich them together. The top "stripey" layer is slightly more involved because a random and total glue drizzle would leave alarming sticky patches open to the world so, you have to lay down the layer and then peel up one section at a time and glue-ify it before a firm press to adhere the whole business.
One thing I couldn't tell at a distance: I wasn't sure if a rug made out of felt would feel substantial enough to be walking on...but, yeah...it does...it's not mongo thick and cushy but it feels good enough. There are three layers here which you can't tell at a glance and that's the secret. So, yeah! Hooray felt!
And it's mostly done! I have to add more glue to the top layer and for that I will need another bottle so, a craft store run is in my future. I also think I might glue a non-slip rug cushion to the back so that it will be less like a giant tempting sled for little boys who love to slide through across wood floors on their socks. Heh. But, yeah! It's done enough for me to be very pleased, and proud of myself and to be recommending it to all of you.
Today I decided to tackle the bright, no-sew felt rug that I mentioned before. I have learned in the past that a nice rug is one of the best ways to tie a room together, make it look lived in and give it a cohesive, warm feel.
Note to self: Thou shalt have cool rugs.
This particular rug has been picked up on a couple of different blogs and featured...(I'm not the only person out there who likes it! Hello other cool people! *waving*) Alchemy Junk and also Design Dazzle for instance...(Golly, I have something in common with the design blogs.
Yes. Right. Back to the rug.
So, I'm lazy, and impatient so instead of all that boring business in the instructions about printing off the pattern and enlarging onto gigantic graph paper and then cutting out the pattern before you even get your hot little hands onto the felt itself...I just decided..."Let's freehand it." Heh heh heh. (You can see my mark, re-mark, re-re-re-mark pen drawings on the wrong side of the felt below)
I am not necessarily recommending this technique to readers. Directions are good. But, I will say that felt is cheap and sometimes short-cuts work. That's really what I did though....I free-handed it. I sketched with pen on top of the fabric (glancing at the pattern on my iPhone for guidance) and then just went at it with my ballpoint. Then I took the scissors and snip, snip, snipped the whole thing out. The only slightly taxing part of the whole business is cutting out the holes that become the stripes for the top layer. That said, it really isn't bad and if I can do it with an 8 month old climbing me, a two year old bopping back and forth over the fabric and a four year old asking questions, then you can do it too.
After the pieces are all cut out, you just drizzle glue on the layers and sandwich them together. The top "stripey" layer is slightly more involved because a random and total glue drizzle would leave alarming sticky patches open to the world so, you have to lay down the layer and then peel up one section at a time and glue-ify it before a firm press to adhere the whole business.
One thing I couldn't tell at a distance: I wasn't sure if a rug made out of felt would feel substantial enough to be walking on...but, yeah...it does...it's not mongo thick and cushy but it feels good enough. There are three layers here which you can't tell at a glance and that's the secret. So, yeah! Hooray felt!
And it's mostly done! I have to add more glue to the top layer and for that I will need another bottle so, a craft store run is in my future. I also think I might glue a non-slip rug cushion to the back so that it will be less like a giant tempting sled for little boys who love to slide through across wood floors on their socks. Heh. But, yeah! It's done enough for me to be very pleased, and proud of myself and to be recommending it to all of you.
Go, make many safari rugs out of felt! And prosper!
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