Hello, friends, and greetings to the community! This is my second entry for this month's upcycling contest. I made a bathroom floor mat from old boxers and a T-shirt.
Cleaning the house often means getting rid of many items that we no longer use and that take up space in cupboards, shelves, or bags. I usually clear out things quite often. We have a system here if you want to get rid of clothes. shoes, warm clothes, we get the opportunity to donate them. Many Various charities place these containers next to supermarkets, where we can drop our unwanted clothes, shoes, or warm clothes into any one we prefer. They usually either reuse the clothes, after washing and cleaning them. for resale to raise funds or send them to poorer countries. That’s why, when I declutter, I always check for holes, stains, or torn items—those go in the trash rather than to charity.
While sorting through some clothes, I was about to discard my husband's old boxers and a T-shirt when I suddenly had an idea. I decided to try making something out of them, and if it worked out! I wanted to share my project with the community. And it's done. This project is just for trial. I will make a big one later on for the kitchen floor with many t-shirts packed as a rug.
This t-shirt I used as my primery material.
Cut it into strips.
Sewed two strips together using a needle and thread.
Stretching one by one, strips were made into small bundles.
I had a 140 cm long strip in one bundle, and I made 5 bundles like this.
I cut up two boxers to make more strips that had lost their elastic.
I made strips the same way.
116 cm x 12 bundles red color.from the boxers.
I don't have any weaving loom, so I had to prepared one for temporary use
I also made a makeshift tool from cardboard to weave the mat. However, it wasn't very strong, making it difficult to maintain the proper alignment of the cloth. But I managed.
The cardboard measured 66 cm x 42 cm, and working with it was quite challenging. Next time, I will make a wooden loom for better results.
Here I have material which I used for the mat.
1)Cardboard 66 cm x 42 cm
2)string or strips made from old clothes
3)wool
4)2 sticks
5)needle and thread
6)measuring tape
7)pen or marker
8)scissors
big needle
I marked 1 cm points on both edges of the cardboard along the length vertically.
Made 1 cm cuts at all marked points.
Supported the frame using sticks and tape
I started wrapping wool around the cuts, aligning it straight along the vertical lines.
It looked like a woven frame.
I started weaving on the wool frame using gray strips, weaving horizontally with a large needle
After a few gray lines, I added red strips, followed by more gray, continuing this pattern until I reached the end. I attempted to use clothespins to hold the shape, but they did not work as intended.
Here is the weaving once I finished at this point.
Then removed the piece from the cardboard.
Next, I tied knots with the leftover wool.
I sewed the vertical edges using a gray strip and carefully tucked away any small ends of the strips to hide them properly.
And here it is, a finished product! It’s a 52 cm x 28 cm bathroom floor mat. While it’s a bit small, this is my first attempt, and I plan to make a larger one next time.
This project is a great way to utilize upcycled materials for a practical purpose.
Thank you very much for stopping by!