Today I’d like to share a quick tutorial on how to make t-shirt yarn from old shirts. T-shirt yarn is great for projects that require a thick, bulky yarn and there are tons of great t-shirt yarn patterns out there for chunky crocheted rugs, baskets, purses, and wall décor.
A few weeks ago, my fiancé and I cleaned out our closets, setting aside clothes to be donated. We ended up with a large pile of his old white Hanes undershirts that couldn’t be donated due to wear & tear, stains, etc. He was going to throw them away when I thought, “Hey wait! These would be perfect for t-shirt yarn because there are enough to make a large one-color project!” There were 12 shirts which makes a TON of yarn. In the past when I’ve made t-shirt yarn, my shirts were all different colors, which means any large projects had to be multicolored.
All you need for this project is old t-shirts (without side seams) and a pair of scissors. You can also use a cutting mat, ruler, rotary blade, and pen/pencil for marking, but I prefer just eyeballing it with a pair of scissors because I’m not too picky about everything being perfect (once you stretch the yarn, it becomes much more uniform so that slight differences in width and crooked cuts aren’t noticeable). The whole process took less than 10 minutes per t-shirt.
Here we go!
MAKING T-SHIRT YARN
SUPPLIES:
- t-shirts
- a pair of scissors
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Lay your t-shirt down on a flat surface and smooth-out any big wrinkles. Cut off the top half of the shirt, right under the sleeves, and discard.
- Cut off of the bottom hem and discard. You’ll essentially be left with a tube of t-shirt fabric.
- Fold this tube almost in half, bringing the uncut seams toward each other. Leave about an inch gap at the top (see photo below).
- Cut the folded tube from bottom to top in sections of equal width, cutting through the first folded seam, but not the second (see photo below). For this project, I cut about 3/4-inch sections. Just don’t cut smaller than 1/2-inch or your yarn is likely to tear when you stretch it later.
Once you’ve made the cuts, you will be left with something that looks like this:
- Open your t-shirt and lay it down so that the uncut section is in the middle and lays flat. This step reminds me of a ribcage and I like to think of the uncut section as the spine LOL. So make sure the “spine” in the back is as flat as possible to make the next series of cuts.
- The goal for this step is to create a continuous strip of fabric. The cuts are tricky to explain, but easy to make, so the photo below is probably the best reference. Start by making a diagonal cut from the bottom of the piece to the top of the first left “rib”. Now cut diagonally from the top of the first right “rib” to the top of second left “rib”. Continue making these diagonal cuts all along the spine until you reach the end, where you’ll make a final cut just like the first one. Here’s a photo with the score lines for each cut:
Once you’ve completed the cuts, you will be left with a continuous strip of fabric like this: 
- Now we need to turn that long strip of fabric into a length of yarn! All you do for this step is PULL. Grab one end of the fabric in your hand and hold the rest in your other hand while you pull. The fabric will stretch and curl in on itself, creating your yarn. Here’s a photo of the fabric before (bottom) and after (top) pulling:
Continue pulling down the length of the fabric strip to create a pile of t-shirt yarn like this:
- All that’s left to do now is wrap your yarn neatly for use/storage! I looped mine between my palm and elbow then wrapped the end around the middle to secure it.
There you go, easy-peasy! Repeat the steps above for each t-shirt. I had 12 shirts so I was able to create a nice big stock of white t-shirt yarn! All that’s left to do now is figure out what to make with it!
P.S. Cats love yarn, so they’ll probably also love “helping” you make yarn. If you have any feline friends in the house, it’s best to do this project in a space where they can’t “help”. Otherwise, you’ll be dodging paws the whole time like I was. 😉 
Crafting with KC 
I love this idea. You could also cut up the top of the shirt to use as cleaning rags.
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That’s a great idea! I like to keep spare rags in my trunk for cleaning car spills and wiping muddy paws 🙂
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Nice! Don’t forget weaving! I make great, sturdy rugs with t-shirt yarn as the weft on a small Cricket loom!
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It might also fit on one of those sniffer mops for a quick little dustmopping.
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Have you tried dying them once cut? Would it be better to dye them while still tshirts?
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Sorry for the late response! I haven’t trying dying the yarn once cut, but I’m sure it would work just fine! It seems like dying the whole shirt might be easier/less messy though, especially when it comes time to wring out the excess liquid!
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I am using mine for rug hooking.
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And the bottom bit for tie ups,plants bags etc.
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Where do you find t shirts without side seams? All I find are ones with seams. Ugh.
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Most of the “tubular” (no side-seams) t-shirts that I own are those classic, unfitted unisex adult tees that companies give away at events like festivals and sports games. Many of my “fitted” women’s t-shirts do have side seams. I have heard that tubular style t-shirts are more common in the U.S. than in other countries but I don’t know whether that’s actually true. Hope this helps!
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I found them at Walmart
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This is new to me. I’m so excited to get started and see where it goes!! Will be posting soon…
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Thank you! This is the first t-shirt yarn tutorial that I’ve been able to understand! I don’t do well just reading instructions but do better with pics! Thanks!
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Love the simple step by step detail of the how to do!
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Thanks Conne, I’m glad you found it helpful!
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Would it ruin the whole concept of the t-shirt yarn if you couldn’t find tubular t-shirts. Could you use T-shirts that have side seams?
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I haven’t tried, but think that you could still make the t-shirt yarn without a tubular shirt, it would just have small bits of seam down the length of the yarn. The seamed areas also probablg won’t stretch out as well so they may be wider. If you try this, let us know how to it turns out!
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How do you attach more length for a project that uses a lot of yarn?
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Nancy,
“My Crafty Pinay Hands” has a great video tutorial about this on YouTube!
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Did you wash the shirts first
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Christine,
The shirts I used were well-worn, so they had been washed many times. I’m not sure pre-washing new shirts would make much of a difference but let us know how it goes if you try!
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How do you connect one skein to the next?
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Sue,
“My Crafty Pinay Hands” has an easy-to-follow video tutorial titled “How to Join T-Shirt Yarn” about this on YouTube!
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Does it matter if the t-shirts have images printed on them?
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Misti,
I haven’t tried using printed tshirts. Depending on the printing method, my guess would be that the printed areas of the fabric might not stretch as well. Let us know how it turns out if you try!
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