How to make t-shirt yarn

T-shirt yarn is great for recycling old t-shirts you never wear, and turning them into something more useful. By making your own t-shirt yarn you could then use the yarn to make rugs, bags and baskets, and even a pouf or two...!

 

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1. When you've chosen your t-shirt, fold it almost in half, leaving about an 2cm between the two edges. You need to fold it as flat as possible, as creases will create jagged edges in your yarn and it won't be pretty.

2. After you've folded it and it's flat, cut off the bottom hem.

3. After you cut off the hem you can start cutting the t- shirt into strips. Each strip should be around 2,5 to 3cm wide, depending on how thick you want your yarn to be.

 

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NOTE: Do not cut past the "X" as shown left. Stop cutting right after you've reached the fold of the first half.

4.Continue cutting the same way until you reach the sleeves. Once you reach the sleeves, you can cut all the way across both edges.

Now you have a complete section of strips. Keep any cut-offs to use for filling or other small craft projects.

5. Slip your hand through the cut strips and cut from the middle of the edge, towards the far corner of the first left edge piece - as shown left.

6. As each cut piece falls away, continue to cut at the same angle until you reach the end.

Finish off cutting the t-shirt as shown left.

7. To condition the yarn ready for crochet or knit, grab one end of the strip and stretch it out to the fullest so that it starts to curl up on the sides.

And there you have it. Now you have t-shirt yarn to work with.