A couple of weeks ago, I tried out weaving a t-shirt yarn rug on a hula hoop.
Instead of a rug, I ended up with a bowl - but hey, it's a pretty bowl!
I thought that maybe I'd got the tension wrong as I wove the yarn, so I decided to cut up the remaining t-shirts in my clothes upcycling stash and try again.
Lucky I had a nice bowl to keep the balls of yarn in!
So once again I started with the hula hoop..
And slowly started weaving, trying to keep my tension even as I went.
Unfortunately, as I neared the end of my balls of yarn, things didn't seem to have gone as planned..
I cut and tied the ends and...
Another bowl!
I've put my little dumbbells in this one.
Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong?
I've run out of t-shirt yarn now, but I'm sure I'll have more t-shirts in my upcycling stash again one day, and will want to try again to make a RUG!
Any hints or tips much appreciated!
I think it's a great way to upcycle old t-shirts, whether you make rugs or bowls!
Oh wow! Quite unexpected result :) but good too! when crocheting t-shirt yarn, I also noticed that it becomes coarse, so yes you have to be very careful with tension and number of stitches. What I can suggest is to make t-shirt yarn even thinner. Also as I see you are making your rug on same t-shirt strings, may be it is better to put some rope kind of instead... :) well, I hope you find solution soon! Anna
ReplyDeleteThanks Anna! I think that is the answer to make a rug not a bowl - to NOT use t-shirt yarn for the 'spokes' , as they are stretched, and so shrink back when I cut them at the end, pulling the rug up into a bowl! Now I need to try again!
DeleteHello, I have tried this too before and ended up with a pretty bowl at first. Hindustanka is right, the strings you use for the web cannot be "elastic", or the will pull together once you take it off the hoop and make your rug curl up. Good luck with the next one.
ReplyDeleteThanks Beatrix! I'm so glad I posted this - the solution seems obvious now - don't use stretchy strings for the spokes!! Can't wait to try another one and get it FLAT!!
DeleteLovely result, you make me wanna try, Jill!
ReplyDeleteI have never tried, but I've read about pulling t-shirt yarn before using it me too... Maybe it's the key!
MammaNene @ SergerPepper
Thanks Irene! you should give it a go - it was fun to do, and my daughter LOVED helping too!
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