As you are Marie Kondo-ing your way through your closet this month, you may end up with a pile of old t-shirts in need of new life. Luckily, there’s a DIY for that! Repurpose them into a rug using a hula hoop as a loom! This simple t-shirt hula hoop rug is a great in-front-of-the-tv activity for teens and adults to upcycle those random t-shirts. Of course, you can also use t-shirt yarn as I did. Use t-shirt yarn or strips of all one color or a variety to make a small technicolor rug that’s perfect for any room in your house.
Here’s how to DIY your own hula hoop rug from t-shirts:
Supplies:
- Hula Hoop
- 1 t-shirt (for loom)
- 130 yards t-shirt yarn or approximately 12 t-shirts
- Scissors
Step 1: Cut across the bottom of the t-shirt you’ll be using for the loom to remove the hemmed bottom. Cut across in 1/2 inch strips up to the armpits of the shirt. You need 11 strips.
Step 2: Once you have 11 equal sized stripes, stretch them and pull them onto the hula hoop. Continue with all strips until the hula hoop resembles a bike wheel.
Step 3: If using t-shirt yarn, unravel an extra long piece and ball up the end. If upcycling t-shirts, cut 1/2 inch strips of the shirts, then cut open one end to make the strips.
Step 3: Tie one end of the t-shirt yarn to TWO of the “spokes” where they all meet in the middle. Then join those two spokes together and readjust the spokes around the hula hoop. This created an odd number of pieces in the loom so that you can weave. It will NOT work if you skip this step.
Step 4: Once knotted in place, begin under-over weaving around the hula hoop. Press the yarn inward so that it appears tight. Continue until you run out of t-shirt yarn. It should be just tight enough to hold without being too tight.
Step 5: When you reach the end of a piece of t-shirt, tie them together and continue weaving.
Step 6: Once you get near the end of the hula hoop or run out of t-shirts, tie the end of the yarn to the weaved area. Snip the “spokes” from the hula hoop and tie into knots.
Lastly, trim all excess string from the knots, or let the ends hang loose like fringe.
Lay it next to a bed or chair, layer it on top of other rugs or place it in front of a bathroom vanity for a little cushion for your feet.
