T-Shirt Yarn, part 2: Cutting T-Shirts to Make Yarn

Part 1 of this series demonstrated dyeing t-shirts.  Once the t-shirts are dry, it is time to cut them into yarn.

1) Lay the t-shirt out flat.  Since we cut off the unusable parts in part 1, the t-shirt is now a tube.  Lay it out with one of the closed sides facing you.

2) Fold it up for faster cutting.  The top layer of the fold should stop an inch below the bottom layer of the fold.  We are not going to cut that top inch of fabric.

3) Cut strips that are about one inch wide, stopping when you get to the top of the fold (one inch below the top of the bottom layer).

When the whole t-shirt is cut into strips, there will be a one-inch piece at the top connecting them all.

4) Open up the t-shirt, with the uncut section in the middle.  Now the t-shirt looks like a spine with a bunch of circles attached to it.

5) Under the first circle, cut the spine at an upward angle, so that one end of the circle will be severed from the spine.

 It will look like this after it is cut.

6) Cut off the pointy end.  This will be one end of your long strip of t-shirt yarn.

7) At each point where a circle meets the spine, cut at an upward angle, so that you make a continuous strip.  Make sure you cut diagonally rather than straight across.  You don't want any of the strips to be cut in half.

When you are finished cutting the spine, there will be one long continuous strip of yarn.

8) Cut off the point at the other end.

9) Roll the yarn between your fingers so it curls into a tube.

10) Roll the yarn into a ball.

Now my drawer of t-shirt yarn is more colorful.  I will definitely be doing more dyeing in the near future.