Rugs from Recycled T-Shirts
I have a fun book called Rags: Making a Little Something Out of Almost Nothing, written by sisters Linda and Stella Allison and published in 1979.
One of the best ideas in the book is making yarn out of old t-shirts. Here are the very simple instructions
I used the yarn from four t-shirts and a large t-shirt dress to knit this little rug. It’s a little worn, but has held up very well for several years.
Or, if you have a huge pile of t-shirts, you could make this groovy shag rug:
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I love the rag rug. Going to have to give that one a try!! Thanks!
How did you make the striped one at the top?
Hi, Anna,
I cut yarn from t-shirts as illustrated at the top of the post, then I knitted the rug, using garter stitch (so it would lay flat) on very large needles.
So nice thank you for this wonderful post.
This is fantastic. I am putting this on my ‘to do ‘ list
Great idea! i have some of this yarn and im anxious to try it!!!!
What size needles did you use and how many did you cast on? What size is this rug that you are showing? That gives us an idea of where to start! Very clever! Thanks for sharing!
vicki
Indiana
Hi Vicki,
I made the rug years ago, so I don’t remember what needles I used. Very large needles. You would have to knit a swatch and find the size that works best. If you don’t have any large needles and are trying to decide what kind to buy, I suggest something about as big around as a wooden spoon handle. At a glance, it looks like there are 60 or 70 stitches. They’re large enough to count in the photo, if you care to.
This rug’s about 2 feet by 3 feet (60 X 90 cm). Just a rectangle to throw on the floor. No need for tremendous precision.
I can’t wait to try this. Always wanted to make a rag rug.
Thank you for sharing this. I’ll start saving t shirts for this instead of using them for cleaning rags. White shirts would make a nice bath mat.
AWESOME…..I JUST HOPE I HAVE SOME TALENT…..I WANT TO TRY & MAKE ONE OR TWO!!!!!!
PLEASE KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED FOR ME!!!!!!!!
Brenda
This is great ! wgat a great way to recycle all of my old T-shirts
Kathy