Thrifty Rag Rugs

In my house, we used to have a big, old rug made out of what I assume was recycled wool clothes.  As I was stumbling one day, I came across a tutorial for how to make t-shirt yarn.  At first I thought, "what the hell would I want with that?"  But I was wrong.  I quickly put the two thoughts together and decided to make a rug.

First rugs I made- dirty with use.  They hold up well, though!

Supplies: A stack of old t-shirts,  sharp scissors (not kiddie scissors, either), and a size Q crochet hook (you can get these big plastic hooks at Wal-Mart for $3).

Useful Tip: It is best to use t-shirts without side-seams.  You can use shirts with side-seams, but you have to be careful to hide them as you are working.  It is not too difficult to make sure the seam always lands in the back of your work.


Well, I had lost that tutorial, so I found another one here at Polka Dot Pineapple.  I don't cut my strips as large as hers though.

 Useful tip: You can make smaller yarn balls out of the sleeves to help stretch one color further (and to use as much of the shirt as possible).

To make the rug:

Big Rug for Mama to match her decor.

 Chain 5
slip stitch to make a loop
single crochet in a circle until you run out of yarn.
Tie on another color an keep going until desired size!

Especially at the beginning, you have to be careful that you increase stitches regularly enough that your rug doesn't start to look more like a bowl.  But the great thing about t-shirt yarn is that it is so dang stretchy, so even if you don't increase the right amount, you can always shape the rug later.  To increase, do 2 single crochets in the same stitch.  Usually the first and second rows, you will need to increase in every stitch, the next row will be increase every other stitch.  After that, increase as needed- whenever it seems like a stretch to make it to the next stitch.

Useful tip.  It takes about 9-10 shirts to make a rug with a 2 foot diameter.  The bigger your rug gets, the fewer rounds one ball of yarn will make it around the circle. 


This is a super easy and fun craft, especially if you have someone there to teach you how to do it.  I have taught friends and my mentoring girls.  My friend Meghann loved it so much that she finished her rug within 24 hours of learning.  My mentoring girls (ages 9, 12 and 13) have caught on incredibly quickly and manage to help each other when I'm not in the room. Dae-Shana has said that she wants to continue making rugs and sell them to make money.  If I can give these girls a skill that they could make a few dollars off of, then I have far surpassed any ideas I had the first day I started this silly little craft project.

Useful Tip:  Shirts with patterns (especially stripes) look great!  Most patterned shirts will had side seams, though.

With rug making skills in high demand at my apartment, so are old t-shirts!  Being the regular thrift-shopper that I am, I manage to find some amazing deals. I am always on the look out for good deals on t-shirts, especially bright colored ones for the girls.  Because of my second-hand addiction, I now have a 2-foot tall rainbow stack of t-shirts waiting to be made in to rugs.