DIY Upcycled Crochet Rag Rug from Old T-Shirts
There is something deeply satisfying about turning a pile of worn-out t-shirts into something beautiful and functional. If you have a drawer full of old shirts you can’t quite bring yourself to throw away but no longer wear, this project is exactly what you need. A crochet rag rug made from upcycled t-shirt yarn is durable, colorful, washable, and completely free if you already own a few shirts and a large crochet hook. Best of all, it requires no advanced crochet skills — if you know how to chain and single crochet, you can make this rug.
In this tutorial, we’ll walk you through every step of the process, from cutting your shirts into workable yarn to finishing off a rug that looks like it came straight from a boutique home décor store. We’ll also cover tips for choosing colors, managing tension, and keeping your finished rug flat and beautiful for years to come.
Why Upcycling Old T-Shirts Is Worth Your Time
Before we dive into the how-to, let’s talk about why this project deserves a spot on your crafting list. Every year, billions of pounds of textile waste end up in landfills. Most of that waste comes from fast fashion items that fall out of style quickly or simply wear thin over time. A t-shirt that has a small stain or a stretched collar is still full of usable material — soft, stretchy, colorfast jersey knit fabric that happens to be one of the best materials for making rag rugs.
When you upcycle old t-shirts into a crochet rug, you accomplish several things at once. You divert textile waste from the landfill. You create something handmade and entirely unique. You save money on both yarn and a new rug. And you end up with a conversation piece that guests will inevitably ask about.
T-shirt yarn, often called t-yarn or tarn in crafting communities, has become incredibly popular precisely because it is free (or nearly free), easy to work with, and produces rugs that are thick, cushiony, and surprisingly sturdy underfoot.
What You’ll Need
Getting your materials together before you start makes the whole process smoother. Here’s what you need.
T-shirts: Plan on using around 8 to 15 adult-sized t-shirts depending on the size of rug you want to make. Larger shirts give you longer strips and fewer joins, which is always a bonus. Look through your own closets, ask family members, or check thrift stores where bags of old shirts often sell for just a dollar or two. The fabric should be 100% cotton or a cotton-polyester blend. Pure polyester shirts don’t have the same stretch and can be slippery, though they can still work in a pinch.
Crochet hook: You’ll want a large hook — somewhere between a 15mm and 20mm hook is ideal. Many crafters use a 16mm hook as a sweet spot. If you don’t own one, they are inexpensive and widely available at craft stores and online.
Scissors: A sharp pair of fabric scissors makes the cutting process much faster and easier. Dull scissors will frustrate you quickly when you’re cutting through layers of jersey.
A rotary cutter and cutting mat (optional): If you have these tools from sewing or quilting projects, they can speed up the cutting step significantly and give you more uniform strips.
A clothespin or stitch marker: For keeping track of your starting point when working in the round.
That’s genuinely all you need. No special looms, no expensive supplies, nothing you wouldn’t already find in a well-stocked home.
Choosing Your Color Palette
One of the most fun parts of this project is deciding on a color scheme. You can go two different directions with this.
The first approach is planned and cohesive. Choose shirts in a color family that works with your home décor — blues and grays for a coastal look, warm neutrals and rust tones for a boho feel, or bright primary colors for a playful kids’ room rug. Thrift stores are great for finding shirts in specific colors when your own collection doesn’t quite hit the palette you’re envisioning.
The second approach is spontaneous and scrappy. Use whatever shirts you have and let the color story emerge organically. Some of the most beloved rag rugs look like a celebration of chaos, with every color imaginable swirling together in a pattern that is somehow perfectly harmonious. This approach is also the most economical and the most eco-friendly, since you’re using exactly what you already have.
If you want a middle ground, try sorting your shirts into light and dark piles and alternating between them as you add new yarn. This creates visual rhythm without requiring a perfectly planned palette.
How to Cut T-Shirts into Yarn
This step takes a bit of time, but it’s genuinely enjoyable once you get into a rhythm. Put on a podcast or your favorite playlist and settle in.
Step one: Prepare the shirt. Lay your t-shirt flat on a table or the floor. Cut off the hem at the bottom of the shirt and set it aside — the hem is usually a different weight of fabric and doesn’t blend well with the rest. Also cut off the underarm area if the shirt has sleeves, and cut off the sleeves themselves. You can save sleeve fabric for very small projects, but for a rug the main body of the shirt gives you the best strips.
Step two: Cut into strips. Fold the shirt body in half horizontally so that the side seams are aligned. Now cut parallel strips across the folded fabric, from the bottom edge upward, stopping about an inch or two from the side seam on one side. Do not cut all the way through. Each strip should be about 1 to 1.5 inches wide. The exact width depends on your preference — wider strips make thicker, chunkier yarn while narrower strips give you a finer, more flexible yarn. For a beginner’s rug, 1.25 inches is a great starting point.
Step three: Connect the strips. Open up your cut shirt carefully. You’ll see a series of loops connected along one uncut edge. To turn this into a continuous length of yarn rather than a pile of individual loops, you need to make angled cuts along that connected edge. Lay the shirt so the uncut side is at the top. Starting at one end, cut on a diagonal from the top of the first loop to the top of the second loop, then from the top of the second to the top of the third, and so on down the line. This turns what would have been separate loops into one long spiral strip of fabric.
Step four: Stretch the strip. Grab your strip of fabric and gently tug it lengthwise. Jersey knit fabric curls in on itself when stretched, turning your flat strip into a round, rope-like cord. Give the whole strip a stretch as you go, and it will begin to look and behave much like real yarn. Wind it into a loose ball as you work to keep things tidy.
Repeat this process with each shirt. As you accumulate your balls of t-shirt yarn, you’re ready to start crocheting.
Joining Strips Together
When one ball of yarn runs out, you’ll need to join the next one. There’s a simple and clean way to do this that leaves no knots and no messy ends hanging out of your rug.
To join two strips, cut a small slit near the end of each strip, about half an inch from the end. Thread one strip through the slit of the other, then thread the loose end of the first strip back through its own slit and pull gently to tighten. This creates a flat, secure join that sits nearly invisibly in your rug. It takes about ten seconds once you’ve done it a couple of times.
How to Crochet the Rag Rug
There are several shapes you can crochet a rag rug in — oval, rectangular, and round are the most common. We’ll walk through the round rug because it’s the most beginner-friendly and it’s also one of the most visually striking shapes when finished.
Starting the center. Make a magic ring or chain 4 stitches and join with a slip stitch to form a small loop. Round 1: Chain 1 (this counts as your first stitch), then work 11 single crochet stitches into the center of the ring. Join to the first stitch with a slip stitch. You now have 12 stitches in your first round.
Round 2: Chain 1. Work 2 single crochet stitches into each stitch around. Join. You now have 24 stitches.
Round 3: Chain 1. Work 1 single crochet into the first stitch, then 2 single crochet into the next stitch. Repeat this pattern all the way around, alternating one stitch and two stitches. Join. You now have 36 stitches.
Continuing outward. The key to a flat round rug is increasing at a consistent rate. As a general rule, you’ll add 12 stitches per round. In each new round, the number of single crochets you work before the increase increases by one. So round 4 has 2 singles then 1 increase, round 5 has 3 singles then 1 increase, and so on. If your rug starts to cup upward, you need more increases. If it starts to ruffle and wave, you have too many.
Work outward until your rug is the size you want. A small bathroom or entryway rug is typically around 24 to 30 inches in diameter, which usually requires about 10 to 14 rounds depending on how thick your yarn is. A larger living room rug might be 4 feet in diameter or more, which will require more rounds and significantly more t-shirts.
Finishing. When you reach your desired size, cut your yarn leaving a 6-inch tail. Pull the tail through the last loop to fasten off. Thread the tail through a large blunt needle and weave it into the back of the rug, or simply tuck it tightly through a few stitches on the underside. Trim any excess.
Tips for Keeping Your Rug Flat
A common frustration with crocheted round rugs is that they sometimes don’t lie flat. Here are some ways to prevent that from happening.
First, try to maintain consistent tension throughout your work. T-shirt yarn can be slippery and stretchy, and if you grip too tightly or too loosely at different points, the tension will vary in ways that affect the final shape. It helps to work slowly at first until you develop a feel for the material.
Second, block your rug when you’re done. Lay it on a flat surface, mist it lightly with water, and smooth it out with your hands. Let it air dry completely in that flat position. The slight dampening relaxes the fibers and helps the rug settle into a flat shape.
Third, if your rug still has a slight wave to it after blocking, try placing it under a heavy rug or a stack of books overnight. This gentle compression often does the trick.
Variations and Creative Ideas
Once you’ve made one rag rug and gotten comfortable with the process, there’s a wide world of variations to explore.
You can try a striped rectangular rug by working back and forth in rows rather than in the round. Switch colors every two rows by joining a new yarn at the end of a row and cutting the old one with a short tail to weave in later. This style looks particularly striking in bold contrasting colors.
An oval rug is made by starting with a chain of several stitches and working around both sides of the chain, increasing at the ends rather than at the center. Oval rugs work beautifully in front of kitchen sinks or along hallways where a round rug would feel out of proportion.
You can also experiment with texture by using a different stitch. Half double crochet creates a denser fabric than single crochet and gives the rug a subtly different look. Some crafters use a simple basketweave stitch for rugs that have a woven appearance.
If you have children or want to make the project extra fun, use shirts from different family members or from memorable events — old band tees, race shirts, camp shirts — and create what some people call a memory rug. Every section of the rug holds a story, which makes it one of the most personal things you can put on your floor.
Caring for Your Finished Rug
One of the best things about t-shirt yarn rugs is that they are completely machine washable. When your rug needs cleaning, toss it in the washing machine on a gentle cycle with cold water. Tumble dry on low, or better yet, lay it flat to air dry. This prevents any shrinking or distortion.
Avoid using hot water or high heat in the dryer, as this can cause the cotton fibers to shrink unevenly and might cause your rug to pucker. With proper care, a well-made crochet rag rug can last for many years, softening and becoming even more beautiful as it ages.
If you notice any strips coming loose over time, simply use a blunt needle to re-weave them into the back of the rug. T-shirt fabric is forgiving and easy to re-secure.
The Bigger Picture: Crafting with Intention
Making a crochet rag rug from old t-shirts is more than a weekend craft project. It’s a small but meaningful act of choosing repair and reuse over disposal and replacement. It’s the satisfaction of making something with your hands that will be used and appreciated every single day. And it’s a way of honoring the materials that already exist in the world rather than always reaching for something new.
There’s a long tradition of rag rugs across cultures and centuries — from braided rugs made by American colonists to hooked rugs made by Scandinavian farmers to woven rugs made from saris in South Asia. The upcycled crochet rag rug you’re making today belongs to that same lineage of practical, inventive, beautiful craft. It’s humble in its origins and generous in what it gives: warmth underfoot, color in a room, and the quiet pride of having made something yourself.
So gather your old shirts, sharpen your scissors, and get to work. Your rug is waiting to be born.
