T-shirt yarn (tarn) is quick and easy to make. It can be used in an endless array of projects. Try to using it in crochet, weaving a bath matt, or making a trendy scarf. I’ve used it to create a macrame throw.
In the macramé t-shirt throw tutorial I recommend cutting multiple strips from t-shirts. This gives you strands that are shorter and thus easier to work with, but there’s a tradeoff. As those strands get shorter you have to attach new strands. The point of connection will leave you with a less finished look. Cutting continuous t-shirt yarn, is an optional technique you can use to make your macramé t-shirt throw a bit more finished.
If you use a longer strand you’ll have less of these connection points. Working with longer strands will still be more cumbersome than working with short strands, even if you spool them. You’ll just have decide what’s more important having more consistent knots or having strands that are easier work with. Just so you know, I went with shorter stands for the throw I made for Nate Berkus and used the single stitch joining method.
Supplies
- 1 cotton jersey t-shirts
To make this a true upcycling project use shirts that can’t be worn or donated to charity. You can start the throw with 1 t-shirt, but you can add more t-shirts as you acquire them to make the throw bigger. - 1 ruler
- 1 pair of scissors
- rotary cutter or X-Acto knife
How-To
- Fold your t-shirt, by bringing the right edge of the shirt, which is closest to you, towards the left edge of the shirt, which is farther from you. Don’t bring them together all the way. Leave about 2″ of space between them.
- Smooth out your shirt as much a possible. It doesn’t need to be perfect, but large creases can give your strips jagged, inconsistent edges.
- Cut off the bottom hem.
- Cut 1″ wide strips. Starting the cut from the right edge of the shirt down to the folded side. Notice the strip is still attached, because we left a 2″ allowance between the right and left sides of the shirt.
- Continue cutting out the rest of the strips.
- When you reach the sleeves. Start your cut from the left edge of the shirt this time to fully separate it from the remaining portion.
- Open up the shirt and insert your hand through all the loops. Notice the right slit and the left slit.
- Cut towards the left slit diagonally from the outer edge.
- Now starting from the right slit cut diagonally towards left slit.
- Repeat this until all the left slits have been cut.
- For the last cut, start from the right slit and cut towards the outer edge.
- Stretch the t-shirt strand to curl in the edges. Be careful to make sure the edges curl in evenly. To ensure, this untwist the strand before stretching.
- Stretch the t-shirt yarn a second time going in the opposite direction to ensure it’s fully stretched and curled.
Useful tips
- This technique can also be used with plastic bags to make plarn or plastic yarn, with the exception that you won’t need to stretch the plastic bag to finish it.
- Not sure what else to make with your tarn? Here are a few projects you can try.
Special thanks to Doris, Scott, Sara
g?nial!merci beaucoup pour cette vid?o j’aime recycler c’est ?cologique et ?conomique, super!
Bonjour, Christine! Merci de votre visite et de prendre le temps d’?crire!
Dear Bao,
I would like to use your method for making t-shirt yarn. But all my t-shirts have seams at both sides. Does it work with that kind of shirts? Or will the yarn fall apart?
Thanks for your answer.
Hi Lucy! You can definitely use t-shirts with seams. They won’t fall apart. I actually put up a post about it. Check it out (http://baokhangluu.com/side-seams-and-t-shirt-yarn/)! Thank for stopping by and taking the time to write!
I’m left handed and directions often look backwards to me. I’m having the hardest time getting the end cutting part correct – and have messed up twice now. I’m not going to give up though. I have watched two of the tutorials – with two different people doing it & thought I had it down, but the second time I had lots of circles instead of a long “string” of fabric! I did loop the circles together and made a ball with them & I will do something with it anyway.
Hi Patricia. I think the reason why you are getting a bunch of loops instead of one long “string” of fabric is that you are skipping the first cut. You need to cut from the outer edge of the shirt to the first slit. Here is the link to the video starting at the step that I think you are missing (http://youtu.be/V3xJ_W6vYN4?t=2m25s). So if you are left-handed and have your right hand inserted into the loops, cut from the outer edge to the right slit.
Please don?t hesitate to write if you have more questions. Thanks for taking the time to visit the site, watch the video, and write, Patricia.
The video on joining two pieces of t-shirt together (with a single crochet method) does not play. How can I get instructions to join two pieces of t-shirt that are ready to crochet with?
Hi Sharon. I’m sorry about that. Try visiting the following tutorial page which has the video embedded (http://baokhangluu.com/how-to-make-a-macrame-t-shirt-throw/). It’s the second video from the top. You can also go directly to the video on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Hc8c_RDrrM).
Thanks for taking the time to visit the site, watch the video, and write, Sharon!
The video cleared everything up for me but one piece. When you fold the bottom to the top ( I can’t remember if it was left to right or right to left) I understand that I leave a 2 inch gap and that I cut right to the beginning of that. What I can’t see, is whether or not I will cut through the seam on the bottom side. I know that the far top side needs to stay intact until all of the slices have been made and then I’ll cut those with scissors as you demonstrate. But do I have to cut what would be the other seam in the shirt as I’m making those slices? This will make or break my success with cutting t-shirts, so I hope you understand what I’m asking!!
Hi! I you’re completely correct about the far top side needing to stay intact. You will need to cut through the seam on the bottom side. That’s an excellent question. Please don’t hesitate to write if you have more questions. Thanks for taking the time to visit the site, watch the video, and writing.