About recycling old tees into rugs?

Some thrift columnist talked of converting old tees into rag rugs or
placemats, mentioning crochet. How in the world would you join em,
even if you took the time to cut the tee into longish strips? Sounds
very labor intensive. Any ideas, ladies and gents?

btw, finished that afghan - cat enjoys it daily now.

On Oct 19, 6:31*pm, Kalmia wrote:
Some thrift columnist talked of converting old tees into rag rugs or
placemats, mentioning crochet. *How in the world would you join em,
even if you took the time to cut the tee into longish strips? *Sounds
very labor intensive. Any ideas, ladies and gents?

btw, finished that afghan - cat enjoys it daily now.

T shirts can be made into rather `thin` threads, When you make cloth
threads , for knitting or crochet you should cut them so that when
rolled up they will be a bit thinner than a regular pencil .
You can than knit or crochet them on needles that are 14 mm.

mirjam

forgot to tell you , that you can also cut thick `threads` and crochet
over them with cotton
mirjam

http://www.freepatterns.com/content/...content_id=378
here is a site about it

Rag Crochet: A Vintage Technique

Kalmia wrote:
Some thrift columnist talked of converting old tees into rag rugs or
placemats, mentioning crochet. How in the world would you join em,
even if you took the time to cut the tee into longish strips? Sounds
very labor intensive. Any ideas, ladies and gents?

btw, finished that afghan - cat enjoys it daily now.


--
PAX, Tia Mary ^;;^ (RCTQ Queen of Kitties)
Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about
their whiskers!
Visit my Photo albums at http://community.webshots.com/user/tiamary

Kalmia wrote:

Some thrift columnist talked of converting old tees into rag rugs or
placemats, mentioning crochet. How in the world would you join em,
even if you took the time to cut the tee into longish strips? Sounds
very labor intensive. Any ideas, ladies and gents?

btw, finished that afghan - cat enjoys it daily now.

Not too labor intensive. The directions I have seen say to cut the
body of the shirt into one long spiral strip -- set aside the chest part
with the sleeves for some other use. When you are ready to attach the
strips together you cut a short, lengthwise slit in the end of each
piece. Put the slitted end of the piece through the slit in the working
piece, put the loose end of the new piece through the slit in its other
end and pull to tighten. Don't pull too hard or you will have a lumpy
join. continue crocheting or braiding or knitting, etc. until you get
to the end and join another strip on. Very easy and quick to do, too.
If you are using white *cotton* t-shirts, it's easy enough to dye
the finished item or dye the shirts before starting. My Granny used to
make small throw rugs this way but with her old hosiery. Cut off the
foot and the heavier top part and crochet away :-). Those rugs lasted
forever and were a neutral flesh tone that went with everything --
LOLOL! CiaoMeow ^;;^

PAX, Tia Mary ^;;^ (RCTQ Queen of Kitties)
Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about
their whiskers!
Visit my Photo albums at http://community.webshots.com/user/tiamary

Kalmia wrote:

Some thrift columnist talked of converting old tees into rag rugs or
placemats, mentioning crochet. How in the world would you join em,
even if you took the time to cut the tee into longish strips? Sounds
very labor intensive. Any ideas, ladies and gents?

No more labor intensive than making rag rugs, and only slightly more
than knitting or crocheting a rug in the first place.

Traditional rag rugs are made of coils of braided strips, sewn
together along the edges. While usually done using wool, there's no
reason why you can't start with strips of t-shirt fabric.

I've seen patterns for knitted and crocheted bath rugs -- they usually
call for multiple strands of bulky-weight cotton yarn. I would
imagine that a single strip of t-shirt fabric would be easier to
handle than muultiple strands of yarn.

jenn

--
Jenn Ridley :

On Oct 20, 6:47*am, Tia Mary wrote:
Kalmia wrote:
Some thrift columnist talked of converting old tees into rag rugs or
placemats, mentioning crochet. *How in the world would you join em,
even if you took the time to cut the tee into longish strips? *Sounds
very labor intensive. Any ideas, ladies and gents?

btw, finished that afghan - cat enjoys it daily now.

* * Not too labor intensive. *The directions I have seen say to cut the
body of the shirt into one long spiral strip -- set aside the chest part
with the sleeves for some other use. *When you are ready to attach the
strips together you cut a short, lengthwise slit in the end of each
piece. *Put the slitted end of the piece through the slit in the working
piece, put the loose end of the new piece through the slit in its other
end and pull to tighten. *Don't pull too hard or you will have a lumpy
join. *continue crocheting or braiding or knitting, etc. until you get
to the end and join another strip on. *Very easy and quick to do, too.
* * If you are using white *cotton* t-shirts, it's easy enough to dye
the finished item or dye the shirts before starting. *My Granny used to
make small throw rugs this way but with her old hosiery. *Cut off the
foot and the heavier top part and crochet away :-). *Those rugs lasted
forever and were a neutral flesh tone that went with everything --
LOLOL! *CiaoMeow ^;;^

PAX, Tia Mary ^;;^ * (RCTQ Queen of Kitties)
Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about
their whiskers!
Visit my Photo albums at *http://community.webshots.com/user/tiamary

Oh---now I get it. I'll start at ONCE on getting dh to emtpy those
drawers full of old tees. Thanks.