tee shirt yarn | DAVINMADE

Jun 18 2013

dyeing my tee-shirt yarn

On Sunday, I tried my hand at dyeing my tee-shirt yarn. For the most part it turned out ok and I didn’t turn into a smurf with all the blue die (big plus), but I learned some things.

It’s a little lighter than I’d envisioned, so I’ll definitely have to try again. First, use non iodized salt and soak in salt water, hopefully this will help the take better. I’ve also read about people soaking the fabric in vinegar.

Also, and this is kind of a biggie in crafting in general and often cooking, don’t experiment on your first go at something. It makes it harder to pinpoint the ways you can improve in the future. I mixed two colors – emerald green and turquoise and I wish I’d just tried one or the other now. maybe for the rest of my rug that’s what I’ll do, with stripes of this yarn!

Anyway, I’m mostly pleased with the result, so I’ve written up the steps I took in a yarny recipe.

dyeing tee-shirt yarn

Ingredients

non iodized salt (I think this might be part of my dyeing problem, I only had iodized.
cold process, fiber reactive dye (I used mx procion dye)
soda ash
a big pot or tub
tee-shirt yarn (see my tutorial)gloves and mask

don gloves and mask
soak yarn to get it wet all the way through
fill tub with enough cold water to cover yarn, 3-4 t dye, and 2 cups of salt
stir for 20 minutes
add 1/3 cup (or 1/3 cup per 3 gallons of water) soda ash dissolved in water
stir occasionally for 50 minutes
rinse and wash yarn till water runs clear
dry

Tagged tee shirt yarn, tutorials, yarn

May 23 2013

tee-shirt yarn

I’ve always loved rag rugs, but I hate that they either tend to look kind of messy because the rags aren’t hemmed, or would be an enormous amount of work to sew. So I decided to use yarn made of tee-shirts. tee-shirt yarn is a great alternative, it’s easy to make, has a good deal more stretch so it’s easier on the hands, is very cheap, and very durable.

I plan to dye the yarn and weave it into a nice big rug for my studio. Want to make tee-shirt yarn too? I’ve made a handy dandy tutorial for you to try.

Tagged crafts, diy, FO, home decoration, rag rug, recycle, tee shirt yarn, tee-shirt, tutorials, yarn

May 20 2012

Finally a Rag Rug of My Own

One corner of my craft room is finally complete (you definitely won’t be seeing the other corners yet), now that I’ve made my very own little rag rug. It’s made from the teeshirt yarn I made a while ago.

I used this rug by Little House in the Suburbs as inspiration, but had to improvise a little because the instructions were a little confusing, somehow you go from 4 to 8 strands of yarn, but I’m not sure how, mine only has 4 strands. Braiding a rug is a lot easier on the hands than crocheting, which is good because when I tried to crochet with this stuff, there was a lot of pulling of yarn and swearing and red hands.

I have lots of ideas for bigger, better, more colorful teeshirt rugs, including stripes and maybe gradients. the pattern it creates could lend itself to a lot of color and other shapes, it could easily be made into a circle or a more elongated oval.

Also, just so you guys get the scale of that chair in the first picture, here is me sitting in it, looking a little irritated.

now at 5’1″, I’m not exactly tall, but this chair makes me feel like a giant. In a good way. A friend and former next door neighbor gave it to me after I sat in it every time I hung out with him and constantly yammered on about how much I loved it. It is now one of my prized possessions.

Tagged braiding, crafts, diy, rag rug, tee shirt yarn, weekly craft challenge

Feb 20 2012

1 Comment

Rag Rug, Weekly Craft Challenge

Week 8 – Rag Rug Resources

I’ve got big plans for this week. I will be buying out the local good will’s XXL stock of white teeshirts, turning them into yarn, dyeing them, and crocheting, braiding etc. (aka whatever works best) into at least 1 rug. Phew, and now I’m already tired.