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Media Press Recycle Tutorial – Making Of T-Shirt Yarn
Another tutorial to help save our Mother Earth by turning unwanted items into something useful. This is the yarn ball I made out of an old T-shirt which I have been wearing for 10 years day-in day-out, wash-in wash-out. It finally broke down and tore at the collar and sleeves. Waste not, want not, I decided to recycle it.
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Hi,
I’ve been looking a lot at your blog a lot recently, I really like what you do! Very pretty and very nicely presented. Thanks a lot for your ideas and patterns =)
Best wishes,
Great tutorial. Never thought of cutting the fabric in this way. Very clever. Thanks for sharing
Birgitte
Thanks Birgitte
i was so happy to see the tutorial and then bummed, here they do not sell seamless t-shirts. all have seams on the sides
It’s true… I got mine from USA and are still looking for more.
sorry to beo so dumb but what is 15mm in inches??? Can’t wait to get started….
Hi mildred lane, 15mm is about 5/8″.
Hi again,
This has been such an inspiration for me, thanks again ! I’m still collecting Tshirts, which I buy at my local Oxfam charity shop. Only disappointing and difficult thing is that they ALL have side seams…..bit of a challenge !
Would LOVE to show off my first finished basket bag but do not know how to go about it. Help!?
Kiki x
I am still collecting too, it is the same as the no-seam T-shirt cant be found in my country.
At this point of time until I have the community site set up, please upload it to facebook page if you have an account. Otherwise, will have to wait until I have the community site set up probably end of this year or probably early next year.
Great !
Thanks for the info and good luck with the work on the community site ! Can’t wait for that because it will be yet another inspiration for my creative ‘Bag Lady’ life, just like this wonderful blog has been.
Kiki x
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You. are. out. of. control. LOVE this site!!!! I found your site linked on another blog when I was searching for “old sheets for handkerchiefs”:-) That got me to your awesome woven rug. I can’t WAIT to find enough sheets at Goodwill to make that one. I have been wanting an easy doable rug pattern made from old scrap for the LONGEST time. I hate the way you buy rugs from the store, and they have that horrible plasticky backing that always comes apart in the washer/dryer…. And now this coolest t-shirt project! THANK YOU for this website:)
Thank you! I appreciate your tutorial. Easy to follow and it’s fun to end up with a ball of yarn in your hands.
This is probably the coolest idea ever! I am truly obsessed with your site!!!!
ingenious way to cut ONE long strip with NO seams!!!!! LOVE IT!!
I have really been enjoying crocheting a kitchen rug with my new tshirt yarn! One thing, I ran out of t-shirts and bought some jersey material from the scraps section at my fabric store and it did not work! I tried cutting the material both ways and could not get it to stretch and curl in like the t-shirt material does. What is the difference? It feels like the same stuff!
lovely idea
Hola, acabo de conocer tu blog y me he quedado alucinada, está super interesante y las cosas que haces y nos enseñas estan muy bonitas. Enhorabuena, ah lo del ovillo a partir de una camiseta me ha dejado sorprendida.
Besos.
Translation (by Google):
Hello, I just know your blog and I was amazed, it is super interesting and the things you do and teach us are very nice. Congratulations, ah what the ball from a tee shirt has left me surprised.
Kisses.
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I cut it a different way and purposely made it uneven then knitted it into a scarf…It turned out awesome! T shirt yarn is definitely warmer and more skin friendly than a lot of other stuff. you’ll get lots of compliments too!
I wish I can have a glance on the scarf you have knitted with the different way of T-shirt yarn. I like creative projects. Show me show me!!!
Call me crazy but I can’t figure out how to cut this material! I have tried every way possible (I think) and still can’t get it. Can you help?
I have described the instruction my best in the tutorial. I think I should come out with a video tutorial soon.
Loved the tutorial – it was good to see pictures. I have been collecting T-shirts. Like the idea of making one long piece. I have been cutting individual pieces to make necklaces – so creative!! Love it!!
Thanks for sharing this! I actually made some and I love that it’s more sturdy than most yarn I can find at the store.
Great idea! I’ve never thought about it.. A really ingenious way =) Can I quote this post on my blog? Let me know
Kerook
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hello,i like this idea a lot,and i do cut one t-shirt this morning,but i have one question that how to deal with the connection of two side?I felt this two place let me hard to use……..
Cut diagonally from line 1 to line 2 of the other side, it will go spiral and form a continuous strip.
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Thanks! I have used this way of cutting plastic grocery bags to crochet rugs and bags with. Most of my husband’s T-shirts have writing and pictures on the front or back. I’ll have to see what shirts I can find without that crazy rubbery printing on them. Great idea.
All of my t’s are steamed at sides~solution? Pattern suggestions?
Thanks
T-shirt with side seam can’t be done with this tutorial provided you cut the strip and join it up into a straight length yarn, but that will be a lot of knots and joints.
Thanks, will try to find some without. Still would like pattern suggestion(s) to knit.
Thank you so much, I just made 30 yards of string from my sons old shirts, they were size 6x so was a lot of cutting, but I’ve already started my rug for my kittens litter box. I love recycling old clothes of my kids into something for around the house. This is much sturdier for a rug, I didn’t make one before because it would have cost too much. So thanks a bunch
Ma
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I just finished my first ball of T-shirt yarn. Looks pretty good. I found that you hve to tug pretty hard to make it curl but it still looks pretty good. Thanks so much.
I just wanted you to know I featured your t-shirt to yarn tutorial on my recent post about 10 ten ways to re-purpose t-shirts: http://thedomesticatedprincess.blogspot.com/2012/10/from-t-shirt-to-treasure-part-1.html.
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You should enter the contest on Instructables.com for either the “Reuse” or “Fiber Arts” contest! Great idea!
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simply amazing. would love to get updates of any other stuff you have made. just loved the idea.
Do you know how many yards of yarn 1 shirt will make?
I am not sure, Susan. I didn’t measure. It also depends how big your t-shirt is and how wide you cut the strips.
Can you use yards of cotton instead of a seamless shirt? Does that ruin being able to have one continuous string? If you can use yards, how would you cut it do it would be continuous?
Hi – thanks for a very nice tutorial
I have one question: I have tried to make the tshirt yarn once from only a childs tshirt as an experiment, and I found that it was the wrong side of the tshirt that became the outer side of the yarn once I tugged at it for it to curl. Is there any way I can get it to curl the right side out? Do you have any experience with this?
I am not sure, Mette, it curls up that way due to the knit structure. If I found a solution for the right side out curl, will sure update the method here.
Mette, there is no way to make this type of yarn curl right-side-out. T-shirt material is knitted in super-small stockinette; a narrow strip of stockinette will always curl this way when stretched.
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Hi, just made my first handbag today. Really came out great, but I did have an issue. Well my bag seemed to never have a straight color line. What I mean is that when moving from one color to the next, there was a clear break in the continuity of the line, when you completed the circle. It never ended where it started, always ended the line above from where it started. Do you have any idea why this was happening? I took it all out and redid it, but still had the same results. I am thinking it must be the first circle, but I really can’t figure out why. I was very careful with my stitching, but still was unclear how to fix the problem. Any thoughts?
Beedee, the only way to avoid that “stepped” look is to work flat, then sew the seam. Any time you knit or crochet in the round with color changes, the beginning of the round will always be a “step up” from the previous round. You camouflage that step when working in a single color, but it’s always there. You could try using that to your advantage, and working color spirals – work one or two stitches past last color change, then changing colors again.
What size crochet hook did you use for the 15mm strips.
I used 8mm crochet hook.