This month, we will be pulling inspiration from Willie Eaglin’s braided rugs and creating our own colorful, braided fabric coasters! Willie Eaglin began braiding rugs as a form of rehabilitation therapy for him during his stay at the Miami’s Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, as he lost his vision at 60 due to glaucoma. He would spend six days braiding strands of materials together and on the seventh day, would form them into shapes he liked to call “round, oval or hot dog.” His colorful creations are what inspire our braided fabric coasters. The supplies you’ll need are glue (fabric or hot glue work best), scissors, felt, and strips of fabric. You can use old t-shirts or any crafting fabric. Willie Eaglin used multiple bright colors in his rugs, especially blues and reds, which you will see we are using here. First, begin by cutting three strips of fabric about a foot and a half long and two inches wide. The longer your fabric, the bigger your coaster will be! Once your fabric is cut, you will use your glue to stick all three pieces together at one end. Once your glue has dried, use tape to secure your fabric down and begin braiding. When you’ve reached the end of your fabric, glue those ends together as well. While you wait for your glue to dry, cut out a circle in your felt that is roughly the size of your fabric wrapped together. Don’t worry if it is too big, you can trim it at the end! Once you have your felt circle, lay down some glue and begin wrapping your braid around in a circle, starting at the middle. To make sure our fabric was secure, we weighted it down while it was drying. Once dry, you can trim any excess fabric. And now you have your own fabric coaster, and it only took a few minutes instead of a whole week like Willie Eaglin! We hope you had fun! Share your creations with us on social media using #MennelloMuseum!
Free