How To Make a T-Shirt Rug

Guest Blogger: Rachel Myers
 Sometimes projects and great ideas don’t always go as planned. In my case, I had to improvise and ended up with a different project than when I started! And it’s quite the story. First I started out making a t-shirt rug using very simple directions. The directions are as follows. First take a few shirts you don’t want anymore and cut them into 1 inch strips. You want these strips to be like little circles, not flat. For a frame, you’ll want to use a hula hoop. I used a child-size hula hoop and needed about 50 strips. Once you have the hula hoop and all your strips cut out, begin using strips to make spokes around the hoop. I used six strips, making 12 spokes. In order to get the right pattern, push two of the spokes together and keep them that way for the remainder of the project. Then, starting at any spoke, tie a strips on by looping it through itself around the spoke. Weave the strip over and under the spokes, alternating at each one. Attach another strip in the same way to the first strip and continue weaving. After three or four rows, you can begin separating the spokes and weaving in between them. When you’re all done, simply cut the spokes and tie them to prevent unraveling. Now the most important part is to not pull the strips too tight.

And I say that’s very important because that’s what I did and it didn’t end so well. If you pull the strips too tight, it creates too much tension and will pull the rug up into a bowl-like shape. So now that I had this bowl, I didn’t know what to do and I considered throwing it out and starting over. But that would be a waste. So when you’ve got a project that went awry and can’t be used for its original purpose, find another purpose for it!

My idea was a stretch but, was confirmed by my ever-honest nephew. When I showed him the “rug” he said plainly, “It’s a basket!” So that’s what I made it: A basket. But I still had the problem of how to make it keep its shape. Although the weaving was tight it was still too top heavy. I thought I could find a bowl to glue it to, but that didn’t seem practical. Then I had an idea that worked: Mod Podge. I had always used it to glue, but you can use it on fabrics too! To glue on fabrics, all you need to do it water it down. I made my mixture to be about 2 parts water to one part glue. Make sure the fabric is completely soaked by the glue mixture, and then let the excess drip off. Since my project was going to be a basket, I let it dry over a metal bowl that can be easily removed and washed. If you going to try this method know that it takes a very long time to dry. My basket took about a day and a half. Also, to help keep the shape you can untie the spoke one at a time and pull them to tighten up the project.

So even if your project doesn’t turn out the way you thought it would, that’s no reason to throw it out. Make something new! For great recipes get your copy of the Gourmand World Award Winning The Basic Art of Italian Cooking: Holidays &Special Occasions-2nd edition