Tutorial Tuesday: T-Shirt Yarn

So it's not quite Tuesday yet. I like to play fast and loose with the rules!

Pop quiz: how can you get essentially free yarn while preserving something sentimental, recycling, AND making room in your closet? Did you say t-shirt yarn? Then you win a prize! (Contentment and a sense of accomplishment, that is).

Here's the story: I have a very favorite old t-shirt which has been worn and washed over and over for the last 17 years. While it is softer than any fabric known to man, it has now accumulated over 60 holes and I decided to retire it. While looking for  ways to repurpose old t-shirts, I found this tutorial and figured I'd give it a try. However, since my favorite shirt is swiss cheese, I needed to use another, more structurally sound shirt. I decided on another shirt of about the same age, that I tie-dyed back in the 3rd grade. It is a bit small and I hadn't worn it in a long, long time. It worked great so I thought I might elaborate on the above tutorial.

Materials: 1 t-shirt, 1 pair of sharp scissors, 1 ruler or tape measure, 1 strip of paper or cardboard (optional)

After the jump, you'll find my own version of the tutorial linked above and photos of what I made with it!




Step 1: Select a t-shirt. This is a medium cotton Fruit of the Loom with minimal holes.

Step 2: Cut off the bottom hem and cut just below the sleeves to isolate the middle section

Step 3: Fold the middle section in half from left to right, leaving a one inch allowance at the top (photo shows the section folded and rotated 90 degrees, cut edges are on the left and right)

Step 4: Cut 15mm strips through all four layers of cloth, stopping at the one inch allowance. Use a 15mm strip of paper or cardboard to keep yourself honest and make sure the strips are wide enough and even.

Step 5: Now unfold the cloth and focus on the allowance. Cut diagonally from the first slit to the second, the second to the third, etc. as shown.

After this, I ended up with a cloth strip about 23 yards long

Step 6: To make yarn from this strip, all you need to do is pull! Yank on the strip of fabric and it will naturally curl up into yarn. I ended up with about 39 yards. Ball it up!

Step 7: Immortalize your t-shirt! I freehanded this fishy and added some yarn I made from another dark blue shirt I had laying around. I will enjoy this fish more than I ever could enjoy that plain old shirt.

Stay tuned and I'll show you whatever I end up doing with that swiss-cheese-shirt!