Recycled Towel Bathmat

Needing a new bathmat and having no money to buy one, I decided to experiment with cutting two old towels into strips, braiding them, then sewing the braid together to create the "new" bathmat. 

To my amazement, it worked wonderfully and came out perfect. 

Here is how I made it. 

I picked out the 2 regular sized bath towels that I wanted to use. They were a few years old, had a tear in one and a bleach spot on another. 

I then cut the towels into about 2" strips. 

I didn't want the tough "seam" part of the towel, so I cut them off as well. 

I used a large round tipped "Tapestry" needle and size 10 crochet cotton thread. 

After cutting both towels into strips, I started to assemble the braid. Using the above thread, I made a very simple stitch to hold together the start of the first 3 strips.

I then sewed a new strip to the ends of the previous strips as the braid grew. 

The 2" thickness of the strip made it very easy to keep a flat braid. I wanted this to be the case because I wanted to make sure the mat was as soft as possible. 

After I had one long "rope" of the braided towel strips, I laid it out to see if I liked it as a circle or oval, and to check for size. 

We decided on the oval, and it wasn't quite large enough with just 1 towel so I continued with the second towel to make it large enough to fit in front of our shower. 

I measured the space in front of the shower door (very technically with my leg) then I sat on the floor and began to lay out the braid to get the final size I needed. 

The finished mat is a spiral of the braided strips. To create the oval, I started with a straight section of the braided rope, then turned it 180 degrees, keeping it flat and even. Think of a paper clip as the core design. 

Once I had the size I wanted, I began to sew it together. I really just wove the crochet thread through the braid. I believe I only pierced the braid with the needle at the very beginning and end. 

Using the large needle, I was able to easily weave the thread through adjoining sections of the braid. 

Keep the thread tight, but not too tight, or you'll bring it up like a basket rather than a flat mat. If it's not tight enough it will appear to unravel and look yucky. 

By weaving the thread in and out of the braids side-by-side like this, you hide the thread. 

I continued to weave the thread through each section of braid until I had secured all of the rope to itself resulting in the finished oval shaped bathmat. 

And there we have it. The upcycled bathmat made from 2 regular sized bath towels. 

Send me pictures of yours after you make it! I'll be making more myself. The kids now want one for their bathroom too.