easy t-shirt rug |

I’m loving doing my Pinterest projects! This month I made a t-shirt rug using old white t-shirts of Al’s. For awhile I’ve been wanting a small roundish rug at the top of the stairs between each bedroom. It’s a tiny landing and I thought it would look better with a little rug and it would be nice and cozy on cold toes just waking up.

I started with a large pile of t-shirts, collected over a while. Every time one would be worn out and grungy I’d take it from Al and put it in my pile. I wanted all white but you could do all different colors (like in the tutorial I followed). I followed this tutorial that I had pinned on Pinterest.

I started by cutting one t-shirt in half and then cutting out an oval shape for the base of my rug.

Then I cut two entire t-shirts worth of 6 inch long, 1 inch wide strips.

I then made vertical and horizontal snip-its in the oval shape. I alternated doing one row horizontal, one vertical and so on. When I was done I had a big oval with lots of holes.

I started to thread the strips through the holes. I’d pull it through the hole and then loop it around back and pull the other end of the strip through another hole close by. Then I’d start with another strip and thread it through one of the same holes that there’s already a strip in and loop it through to another empty hole. Is this making sense? The tutorial probably explains it better!

And then I get really excited and on a roll and forget to take photos of anything during the process. Check here for photos during the process.

I did this for a long while, easy but time-consuming and a bit tedious. I sat and watched the Bruins game while I did it. Definitely a mindless, in front of the TV project.

Once all the holes were filled I went through and made a few extra, random snip it’s where there were open spaces. I threaded more strips through until it looked fuller.

I was really pleased with the outcome! It’s just a tiny rug, I’m not sure I would have had patience for much more than that, but it’s the perfect size, texture and dimensions that the top of the stairs needed.

For cleaning purposes I figure since it’s not a high traffic shoe area, I’ll probably shake it outside gently pretty often. When washing is needed I’ll put it in a mesh bag to wash so that all the pieces stay together.

What about you guys? Have you been working on any Pinterest projects lately? I’ve been working on them a lot more now because I’m just loving the inspiration and ideas!