DIY Origami Rug

I always get excited to find any new Origami  DIY project on Pinterest and can't wait to dive into it. Last time I did  Felt Table mats and I enjoyed it so much that I decided to do something similar but in a bigger scale. So.. Here it is .. The Origami rug!

At the time I didn't realize that doing this project in bigger format will take weeks/ maybe months? I usually started at evenings after dinner while watching TV. I didn't have to concentrate as this requires repetition of the same thing on and on again. I felt like a machine! But I enjoyed doing it and I think the result is great, I love my new carpet in our dining room.

 My little helper likes it too!

Below are couple pictures from work in progress. If you want to try to give a go, please visit this amazing blog  'How about orange' where you can download pattern and follow easy steps.

 I have chosen different material rather then felt this time. I used thin carpet, which wasn't probably great choice as it wasn't easy to fold or cut, but at the end it is a carpet so I wanted to go for something durable. If you use felt you will have to reinforce  it with some heavy duty iron or sew on underlay.

Pattern and step by step can be found  here

What you can see below took me about 6 evenings to finish. Yes, there is a lot of cutting, folding, and cutting again involved but I am sure you will love the result of your work at the end, like I did.  

If you find any more interesting origami projects, feel free to share here. I can't wait to make more. Thank you for reading :) 

Felt project - Table mats

I found an amazing felt project at How about orange couple days ago and my fingers were itching to try it. I am a huge fan of geometric shapes and simple lines so this project was MUST HAVE for me. Below are some pictures and steps how I created these. Visit How about orange to find more details as well as download perfect pattern.

There is only 1 thing I have added to this project and that's underlay / lining support, which makes mats firmer and more durable. I applied iron on thick vliseline. You can buy it in local shop with fabrics or some bigger craft shops. 

Step by step:

1. Cut squares as per pattern using 'stanley knife' or use scissors. I've found scissors to work better with soft felt, however stanley knife is more accurate. Before cutting fasten each square with a pin.

2. Begin insert corner pieces through the slots in the middle

3. Connect as many squares as you want. You can create small coaster, table mats or even carpet! That will be my next project :) 

4. Trim off the excess felt around the edges and cut off the points of the triangular tabs to create nice geometric shape. Iron on thick vliseline on the back side. This will also straighten edges on the other side and will make mats looks neat and tidy.

5. Woohoo, all done! :)