Braided Rugs: Basic Skills 4

Lacing the braids together is faster and easier than sewing -- and more importantly, makes a stronger, more flexible, and prettier rug. If you are making any sort of pattern (i.e. concentric circles), you must lace as you braid so you will know where to change colors.

The lacing thread or cord is supposed to be totally invisible, but that works only in a perfect world where all your strips are the same fabric and cut exactly the same size and your braiding is absolutely perfectly done. None of that has ever happened in my house. So, some thread shows in some places on my rugs, if you look very closely at the reverse side. However, nobody has ever come into my home and got down on their hands and knees to look for thread on my rugs. So I don't worry about it.
You can start lacing when you have finished the first few middle rows and the braids start lining themselves up together nicely, to nestle into each other.
I've been using a double strand of upholstery thread, but I plan to order special lacing cord.
A Braid-Kin lacing tool is worth the few bucks. It is shaped correctly and has a nice blunt edge that will not pierce your fabric. But I laced my first few rugs using a big upholstery needle.
These instructions assume you are lacing from the reverse side of the rug. I've done it both ways and I think it is easier and looks better doing the lacing from the reverse. If you coiled your rug in the direction shown on the previous page, you are set to lace from the reverse side.

I have read perhaps five sources on how to lace. They all sounded fine and easy -- until I tried it on my own rug. I think the problem may be that real-life rugs (mine, anyway) do not have perfectly evenly sized strips and braids. The other problem is that lacing is easier to do than to describe or draw.
The idea is to bind your braid to the rug by winding the cord through the braids without piercing the fabric. You start by placing the braids so they nestle together, rather than lining them up with blank spaces showing between the braids.

In the above picture that shows the reverse side of my current rug, you can see where the lacing cord shows in a few places. Since this particular rug will be a wall hanging with only the front side ever showing, I am not being as careful as usual about this defect.
Before lacing newly-made braid, I always give it a good stretch to straighten it out.
The lacing motion is done right to left. You draw your tool up and under the bottom loop on the top braid (the braid that is already attached to the rug), then down and under the top loop of the lower braid (the one that is being attached).

As you lace, you ease the braids into their nestling position and you'll develop the method to tuck the cord out of view inside the braid (as much as possible).

Adjustments in lacing Because the "new" braid has to travel a larger circumference than the "old" (already attached) braid, some adjustments in lacing are necessary, especially on the curves. (If you intend to make a braided bowl instead of a flat rug, disregard these instructions.)

I make an adjustment whenever the new braid will not nestle nicely into the old braid. All you do is skip a place in the new (outside) braid. This prevents the outside braid from being stretched too tightly and curling the rug. If you ease in too much outside braid (skip too many places), then you get the opposite problem, a wavy rug. Lacing can always be taken out and redone, but the fix will mess up your pattern.

In the above pictures, the lacing is pulled apart for illustration purposes only. When you are lacing, you want to pull and tuck the cord tightly with each action.
Remember to stop every so often and lay the rug on the floor to make sure it will lie flat. When my rugs become large, I have to roll them up to make them fit on the worktable, and sometimes I forget to check what is going on! (Never fold your rug. Roll it up loosely and gently with the front side on the outside of the roll, and do not leave it in any one rolled position for a long time. If you need to store it for any length of time, roll it loosely around a large center core, with a clean paper or cloth lining.)
Purists will advise inserting pins into the places where you skipped, so you know not to skip in the same location on the next row. I do not bother doing this and have not noticed any ill effects..