Crochet a Rug From Upcycled T-Shirts

Do you have some t-shirts in your wardrobe you know you'll never wear again? Or maybe a jersey sheet with holes in it? Perfect! How to crochet a rug using those old pieces. Good for the environment, good for the wallet, and good for your decor. 

You need

    lots of old t-shirts
    crochet hook size 8-9
    scissors or roll cutter

Materials

You need a lot of old T-shirts or fitted sheets in your favourite colours. Cotton and cotton blend fabrics work best.

Cut Seams

Cut all the seams on your pieces of fabric.

Cut Fabric Into Strips
Cut each fabric piece into 2 cm wide strips.

Tip: Always cut against the direction of jersey fabric so that the thread does not fray.

Change Cutting Direction
Cut up to the end of the strip, but don't cut through. Instead, change your cutting direction and this will produce a long thread. You can hide the corner when you are crocheting if you like, although we leave them visible as they give a nice recycled look.

Start Crocheting

Wrap your material into a ball and start crocheting.
Crochet two chain stitches (ch). In the first of the two chain stitches, crochet 6 single crochet stitches (sc). Close the loop with a slip stitch (sl) and start the new round with a chain stitch.

Crocheting Second Round
Crochet in each of the 6 stitches from the previous row 2 sc and join the round with a slip stitch. Start the next round with a chain stitch.

Crochet Third Round
In each stitch of the previous round, again crochet 2 sc  re-double). You will now have 24 stitches in a round. Again, close the round with a slip stitch. Start the next row with a chain stitch.

Crocheting Further Rounds
Now double every third stitch of the 24 stitches. i.e. a single crochet in two stitches and then 2 sc in the third.

In the fifth round, you should double every fourth stitch.

For the sixth round and onwards, double every 6th stitch.

That's the theory. This is how it works, round after round. Here at Lumikello, we crochet rugs up to a diameter of 2 m so that they will still fit into the washing machine.

Tip: The different materials that you use can affect whether or not the rug will remain flat or curl up. You can use different cutting techniques for different types of material to compensate for this (stretchy materials with a high elastane content should be cut with broad widths while solid cotton shirts should be cut with a narrower width). However sometimes, you have to compensate through your crocheting. If the rug is starting to curl up, then make fewer stitches, and if it won't stay flat, simply make more.

Change Colour
Do you wish to crochet complete rounds in one colour? Then we recommend that you join each round with a slip stitch. After this stitch, you crochet a chain stitch in the new colour and then crochet the next single crochet stitch as described above.