Recycling T-Shirts

I'm really liking the idea of using recycled t-shirt strips for a variety of uses. (I even have access to a whole box of brand-new never-been-worn white t-shirts!) Among other things, I'm planning on making a couple more scarves and maybe a couple rugs.

In the meantime, last weekend, I decided to dye four white t-shirts. Two blue and two purple. One t-shirt even had a nasty black ink-ish sort of mark on it. The dye covered any worries about the mark.

I've cut them into strips and they are nicely rolled into t-shirt yarn balls waiting to see what the Tucker-inspired future will hold for them.

Whenever I sell a wool items on Etsy, I gift wrap them in brown kraft paper, tie them with twine, and attach a wool flower to the top. I've decided that I'm going to begin using the recycled t-shirt strips for binding and have even included that information in my Etsy postings. I like the idea of reusing things when I can and hope that my customers like that as well.

What are YOU going to use your recycled t-shirt strips for?

Recycling T-Shirts

I adore the works of Alabama Studio (Natalie Chanin). She works with repurposing t-shirts to make new, very lovely items. So, when I recently came across an overabundance of leftover t-shirts that - nicely - have never even been worn, I decided that I best try a few upcycled t-shirt tricks myself.

For starters, I decided to cut two of the t-shirts into strips and knit them. I just finished a nice, narrow scarf with it, but I would also like to dye it.

Knitting in progress (it's not really yellow on the side, it's just bad lighting)

 Knitted scarf up close

I was going to dye with denim dye - but dang, I forgot to pick some up when I was at the store. So after digging through what I already had at home, I came up with black dye and decided to give that a try. Since I wasn't sure how the dye would take, I decided to test with a little "flower" that I made.

I love the black-washed-denim look it gave the t-shirt material.

Dyed flower-ette

I think I'll go ahead with dying the scarf this weekend. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I've heard that knitted t-shirt strips also make great dishclothes. I think I might try that next. But I can't get so involved in cotton that I forget about my wool!  I just read an article that I should have some of my winter items posted already on Etsy!  Yikes - I best get busy!