Weave Old T-Shirts Without a Loom

Reader Contribution by Linda Holliday
Published on August 1, 2013
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Is it just me, or are there entirely too many T-shirts in the world?

Perhaps I had a few as a youngster, but the first I can truly recall was a white T-shirt with a rubbery photo of a Studebaker on the front. I wore it with stylish orange bellbottoms embroidered with butterflies. Because I was 14 and bought the shirt with my dishwashing earnings, I wore it until the emblem was gone and the fabric gray.

Now it seems, T-shirts are everywhere and often free, given out at fundraisers, sporting events and as advertising. Our local thrift stores receive so many donated T-shirts, they simply bag them up as shop rags. Trash bags packed full to the top sell for $4. Many of the shirts have never been worn.

Fortunately, there are a gazillion ways to those brightly colored garments. Jersey fabric of 100-percent cotton is so versatile. It can be stretched, sewn flat, weaved, hooked, crocheted, dyed, tied in knots, and, best of all, the ends don’t unravel.

One of my favorite uses for surplus white T-shirts is as garden mulch. Simply cut the side seams and under the arms. Lay it flat with a plant growing up through the neckhole.

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