Saturday, January 15, 2011

UpCycled T-Shirt Yarn


When it comes to crochet I am not the best.  I can crochet but I was not good at following patterns.  I wish I could knit.  I have seen a few articles on folks UPCYLING old clothing, and that gave me tons of ideas for future posts.

I read a several posts and watched lots of videos on how to make this yarn.  Folks really made it super complicated.  Before you try this on a "Good" shirt use a shirt that doesn't mean as much first.

Also be aware that going to the Goodwill or thrift store could be quite expensive.  I found this shirt for $99.  The amount of yarn I was able to get was a half of what I would get from yarn purchased at the store.

Be sure that the shirt looks the same both sides of the fabric.   You also cannot have a shirt with seams on the sides.  Here are some ideas to obtain shirts to recycle.
Your closet.
Ladies who make tshirt quilts. (they never use the bottoms)
Garage sales/Yard Sales
Screen Printers (dud shirts that were mistakes)

Materials you will need:
Tshirt
Scissors

Here is my shirt...size Large....See how it looks the same on both sides.


Here are my instructions.
1.  Cut the seam off of the bottom of your shirt.
2.  Using the ironing board slide your shirt over it and star to cut .5 inch to .75 inch strips the goal is to cut the tshirt into on long spirl stip of material.  BE AS CONSISTANT AS YOU CAN.  I took my time...and It didn't take that long.  My husband used this method...
3.  Beginning at one end of the t-shirt strips start stretching the the t-shirt  see the difference in what I created.  in the photo below.  Pull hard enough to stretch but not hard enough to rip it.

I am glad I choose the size of strip that I did if the strip was any smaller when I stretched it out...it would have broke easily which isn't good when you start knitting or crocheting with it.



If you make this project or post your yarn ball project on your blog....I want to check it out.  Post a link in comments or post your projects to our Flicker Account.

My husband was so intrigued by this project he even made his own ball of yarn.  I figure If I can get my husband likes this project...it must be a winner.

Click here to see my T-shirt yarn projects.

Love the idea of this...but not sure you want to do all of the work...there are lots of etsy sellers that sell tshirt yarn.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/greenatheart?ref=pr_shop
http://www.etsy.com/shop/tyarns?ref=pr_shop

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