Did you know you can make a rug with a toothbrush? A “toothbrush rug” is also known as an “Amish knot rag rug.” It’s made of scrap material such as sheets or new material if you choose. If you are artistic, you can weave the pattern with different colored-material to create beautiful designs.
The reason it is called a “toothbrush rug” is because you need to fabricate a rather large needle and an old-fashioned toothbrush is just the right size and style for this. Of course they can be made from wood or even metal. But our plastic old-fashioned, plain KIDS-size toothbrush seems to be just perfect. That is because our design is perfectly straight, and not like the curvy, bent or uneven thicknesses that you normally find today on the market. The reason our kids size is better for this than our adult size is this: Even though the HEAD of the kids toothbrush is small, the handle portion is actually a little wider than our adult-size toothbrushes!
To make your home-made toothbrush rug needle, all you have to do is saw off the head and round it with a file or sandpaper to a semi-rounded point. There is a natural taper to the toothbrush where it starts to get smaller towards the head. That would be the point where you make the cut. You don’t need to drill a hole on the end for the material because our kids toothbrush handle already has a hole! But if you want a slightly larger hole, you can drill it out or file it. Final dimensions will be about 4 1/2” long.
Special thanks to Jacque Mendez for telling us about this and for sending in her photos about her custom Amish knot rug tool.
