My grandmother taught me to crochet these and she just used cut or ripped fabric with no special edge treatment. Some of the fabric was recycled from work clothes or whatever was in the "rag bag." We are still using some of these rugs 50 years later! From what I've seen, if you braid them, then you have to sew the braiding to make the rug. with crochet, when you're done, you're done! Good luck with your endeavor.

I have braided a rug and I like the toothbrush rug better, I think is quicker. With the braided rug, you have to have 3 strips of fabric and you braid it, then you make it in the shape that you want. With the toothbrush rug, all you are doing is tying knots and working in the shape you want practically right away.

http://www.ragrugcafe.com/toothbrush...rs#comment-566

I also bought their loom and booklet...not the video and some day will get around to using it....but it has been quite a few years!
I have crocheted a couple rugs with a size q hook...and am also braiding a rug with the traditional wool fabric...but I think cottons would also work well.

I hated the toothbrush method. I managed to make a small mat.

My mother did it this way and I still have a room size and a couple of small area ones. She used tips that looked like the ones we now see to make binding (the strip feeds in one end and folds in both sides to the middle). Mine are wool and are probably about 50 yrs old. I need to repair a couple of areas (sew the braids back together) but they wear like iron and make great area rugs. She also crocheted rugs and one time cut up old panties and slips to make soft ones for bathroom. With wear and washing these got really stretchy and out of shape.

These would be fun to make!

I make rugs and there are lots of ways to do them . If you can crochet I think that is the easist way . I like the toothbrush ones too and lastly the braded ones. I dont like sewing the braids together but that is just me :)
There are several tutorials and vidieos online

Thanks for sharing. I am on vacation this week and now know what I will be doing!

Toothbrush method? explain!

I used to have a braiding kit - the braider (doo hickey) looked alot like a bias tape maker - you run the fabric through the doo hickey and it would fold the edges of the fabric in so that you would get less of the raw edges then you just braided them and whipstitch the braids into rugs. I know that wasn't a good explanation but I am sure you could look it up on google.