DIY- Crochet T-Shirt Rug

Hey Cats!

So remember a few posts ago when I told you to start cleaning out your t-shirt drawer? Well, today I’m showing you what I did with some of mine! I have an unhealthy amount of t-shirts that I have accumulated from years of church choir, high school cheerleading, high school in general, and random events. They were taking up valuable closet space, so when I came home for the summer I sorted them into three categories: keep, t-shirt quilt (hopefully coming soon), and t-shirt rug. I saved the ones with cute designs, like all of my pep rally and cheer camp tees for the quilt, and the ones I wasn’t so fond of I threw in the rug pile. I’ll probably eventually do this for my college and sorority tees as well, but that will be at least 5 years from now, seeing as that is all I wear. Anyways, I’ve pinned many tutorials for t-shirt rugs because I knew it was something I wanted to do, so I had to go through them and find the perfect one! I wanted one that wasn’t too difficult and something that would look okay with (very) mismatched colors. I also wanted a coiled or braided pattern, because the really shaggy ones just freak me out. It’s a peeve of mine, they just get dirty really easily, and there’s nothing that says “this is not a clean home” more than a nasty looking rug. I was unable to find instructions that I liked, so I made my own! I got my inspiration from these rugs-this was the flat, coiled look I was going for.

http://goodideasforyou.com/mix-a-match/2457-diy-crochet-rug-with-yarn-a-old-t-shirts.html

However, I didn’t want to use yarn, and there were no step-by-step instructions, except for the ones in Russian on the original link, which I really didn’t want to deal with. So I got creative, and here’s what I ended up with!

It’s a little rustic, but I like it! Here’s what you will need:

-Old t-shirts (I used 12, but you can use more or less depending on the size you want/how many t-shirts you have)

-Scissors

-A size J crochet hook (You can definitely use larger if you want it chunkier!)

Here’s what you do!

-First, you will need to make t-shirt yarn from your tees. I used this tutorial from let birds fly- http://www.letbirdsflyblog.com/2011/10/how-to-make-t-shirt-yarn.html. You can make all of your yarn at once, or you can do what I did and do it one shirt at a time!

-Next, start your rug. With your hook and your first color of choice, chain 4 and join with a slip stitch. Chain three and work two dc in each chain. Continue around, 8 dc. Do not join with a slip stitch, just work the rug in a spiral! Continue to work 2 dc in each dc for 4 rounds. Then, *2dc in one stitch, 1 dc**, repeat from * for two rows. Next, *2dc in one stitch, 2 dc** for two rows. Continue this pattern (adding one more dc between 2dc for two rows) until your rug is complete! I got to 6 dc, and on the last round I did only single dc’s in each stitch to give it a finished look on the edge.

-During this process, you will have to tie together the different colors of yarn. I didn’t really do anything fancy, just tie it in a knot and make sure the knot/stray ends stay on the back side of the rug.

-To end my work, I did one dc, then a hdc, a sc, a slip stitch, and finally another slip stitch to tie it off! I wove the end back through my work.

So there you have it! This is a very resourceful way to re-use those old tees. I mean, you’re making room for new clothes AND you have a new pop of color to add to your house! I’m planning to use this in my kitchen next year, if the roommates approve, of course! It’s very durable and also washable! Hopefully you will all give this a try! Let me know how it goes!

That’s all for meow!