How to Make a Loom Knit Bathmat with T-Shirt Yarn (CC Closed Captions Friendly Guide)
If you’ve been searching for a satisfying, beginner-friendly craft project that produces something genuinely useful for your home, you’ve landed in the right place. A loom knit bathmat made with t-shirt yarn is one of those rare projects that checks every box: it’s affordable, approachable for all skill levels, creates a thick and durable finished product, and gives you the immense satisfaction of stepping onto something you made yourself every single morning. This guide is written to be as clear and accessible as possible, following the same structure used in closed-captioned video tutorials so that every step is easy to follow whether you’re reading along or referencing this post alongside a video.
Let’s walk through everything from materials to finishing touches.
Why T-Shirt Yarn and a Loom Are the Perfect Pair
Before jumping into the how-to, it’s worth understanding why this particular combination of materials works so well.
T-shirt yarn, often called tarn, is made by cutting cotton jersey fabric (the same stretchy material used in t-shirts) into long strips that naturally curl into a rounded cord. You can buy it commercially in beautiful solid and variegated colors, or you can make your own from old t-shirts you no longer wear. Because it’s made from cotton jersey, it’s thick, washable, absorbent, and has just enough stretch to make loom knitting comfortable and forgiving. For a bathmat specifically, those properties are exactly what you need. Cotton holds up beautifully in humid bathroom environments, dries quickly, and gets softer with every wash.
A knitting loom, on the other hand, is a plastic or wooden frame with evenly spaced pegs. Unlike needle knitting, you don’t need to hold two pointed sticks and manage complex hand movements. You simply wrap yarn around pegs and lift loops over with a hook tool. This makes loom knitting accessible to people with arthritis, younger crafters, beginners with no knitting background, and anyone who has struggled with traditional needles. The large gauge looms designed for chunky yarn are ideal for t-shirt yarn projects because the pegs are wide enough to accommodate the bulky material comfortably.
Together, these two materials produce a dense, textured fabric that is sturdy enough to lay flat on a bathroom floor and soft enough to feel luxurious underfoot.
Materials You’ll Need
Getting your materials sorted before you start will make the entire process smoother. Here’s what to gather:
The Loom: You’ll want a large gauge rectangular loom or an adjustable loom that can be set to a rectangular configuration. For a standard bathmat size of approximately 18 by 24 inches, look for a loom that accommodates at least 20 to 24 pegs on each long side. Brands like Authentic Knitting Board, KB Looms, and Cynthia D. Crochet make good options that are widely available online and in craft stores. If you only have a round loom, you can still work in rows, but a rectangular loom will be much easier for this project.
T-Shirt Yarn: Plan on approximately 200 to 300 yards of t-shirt yarn for a standard bathmat. The exact amount depends on the size of your loom and how tightly you knit. T-shirt yarn is sold in various weights; for a bathmat, look for a chunky or super bulky weight, typically labeled as a 6 or 7 on the yarn weight scale. If you want a striped mat, buy two or three complementary colors and plan your stripes before you begin. Popular color combinations include navy and white, sage green and cream, charcoal and blush, and classic black and grey.
A Loom Hook: This is the small plastic or metal hook tool that comes with most loom sets. It looks a little like a crochet hook and is used to lift loops over pegs. If yours has gone missing, they are inexpensive to replace and available at most craft stores.
A Yarn Needle or Tapestry Needle: You’ll use this at the end to weave in your yarn tails and to bind off the project neatly. Make sure it has a large enough eye to thread your t-shirt yarn through.
Scissors: A sharp pair is essential because t-shirt yarn can be thick and somewhat rubbery, and dull scissors will frustrate you quickly.
A Ruler or Measuring Tape: Helpful for checking your progress and ensuring your mat is reaching the dimensions you want.
Optional — Non-Slip Rug Pad: This isn’t part of the knitting itself, but cutting a piece of non-slip rug underlay to fit under your finished mat is a safety must for bathroom use. A beautiful mat that slides underfoot is a hazard, so plan for this from the start.
Setting Up Your Loom
Setting up your loom correctly is the foundation of a successful project. Take a few extra minutes here and everything after will go more smoothly.
If you have an adjustable rectangular loom, configure it to the width you want your mat to be. A width of 18 inches is a good standard. Count your pegs — for an 18-inch mat on a large gauge loom, you’ll typically have somewhere between 18 and 24 pegs across each long side.
Hold the loom so the pegs face up toward you. You’ll be working back and forth across the loom in rows, which creates a flat piece of fabric rather than a tube. This is called working flat or working in rows, and it’s the same concept used in flat panel loom knitting for scarves, dishcloths, and blankets.
Tie a slip knot at the end of your yarn, leaving about a 6-inch tail to weave in later. Place the slip knot loop onto the first peg on the left side of the bottom row of your loom. This is your anchor point.
How to Cast On
Casting on is the process of creating the first row of loops on your loom. For a bathmat with t-shirt yarn, the e-wrap cast on is a good starting choice because it’s simple, stretchy, and works well with chunky materials.
Starting from the peg holding your slip knot, wrap the yarn in a forward e-wrap motion around each peg moving from left to right. To do this, bring the yarn around the back of the first peg, then in front and around, making a loop that looks like a lowercase e when viewed from above. Continue this wrapping motion across all pegs until you reach the end of the row.
When you reach the last peg, wrap around it and then wrap back in the other direction, now moving from right to left, e-wrapping each peg as you go. This creates a second layer of loops on top of the first.
Now you’re ready to knit off the bottom loops. Starting from the peg you just finished wrapping, use your loom hook to reach under the bottom loop on each peg (the first e-wrap you made) and lift it up and over the top loop and off the peg entirely. The top loop remains on the peg and becomes the new working loop. Continue lifting off the bottom loops across all pegs until you’ve completed the row.
This gives you your cast-on row. You should see a neat row of interlocked loops sitting on your pegs.
Knitting the Body of the Mat
With your cast on complete, you’re ready to knit the body of the bathmat. The stitch you’ll use here is the basic flat knit stitch, sometimes called the u-wrap or flat stitch, which produces a clean, dense fabric perfect for a mat.
To begin each row, bring your working yarn to the side of the loom you’re starting on. Wrap the yarn in a u-shape around each peg, going in front of the peg and laying the new yarn above the existing loop without crossing over it. This is sometimes called ewrapping in a single layer. Once you’ve laid new yarn across all pegs in the row, go back and lift the bottom loop on each peg up and over the top of the new wrap and off the peg. The new wrap becomes the active loop.
Repeat this process, working back and forth across the loom, for every row. Turn at the end of each row by simply changing direction and continuing to wrap and knit off.
For a mat that is approximately 24 inches long, you’ll need to continue knitting rows until your fabric measures the desired length. Check your progress every 10 to 15 rows by holding the loom up and letting the fabric hang down, or by lying it flat on a table with a measuring tape alongside it.
If you are making a striped mat, changing colors is simple. When you want to introduce a new color, finish knitting off a complete row and then cut your current yarn, leaving about a 6-inch tail. Tie the new color to the tail or simply begin wrapping with the new color from the same end and weave in both tails later. Stripes of 4 to 8 rows each tend to look proportionate and bold on a bathmat.
T-shirt yarn has a natural stretch, so don’t be alarmed if your loops feel tighter or looser at different points. Try to maintain a consistent tension by wrapping with a similar amount of force across each row. If some rows look noticeably tighter, you can gently stretch the fabric sideways after knitting each row to even things out.
How to Bind Off
When your mat has reached the length you want, it’s time to bind off — this is the process of securing your loops so they don’t unravel when you remove the fabric from the loom.
The basic bind off for loom knitting works as follows. Starting from one end of your loom, use your loom hook to lift the loop from the first peg and transfer it to the second peg, so the second peg now holds two loops. Knit off the bottom loop on the second peg by lifting it over the top loop and off the peg. One loop remains on the second peg. Now transfer that loop to the third peg, knit off the bottom loop, and continue this process all the way across the loom.
When you reach the last peg, there will be one remaining loop. Cut your yarn, leaving about a 6-inch tail. Pull the tail through the final loop and pull gently but firmly to secure it. This creates a clean, finished edge on your mat.
For an even more polished edge, some loom knitters prefer to crochet the bind-off row using a large crochet hook. If you know a basic crochet chain or slip stitch, this is a nice technique to try. However, the basic loom bind-off described above produces a perfectly tidy edge for a bathmat and is completely sufficient.
Finishing Your Bathmat
Your mat is now off the loom and just a few steps away from being complete.
First, weave in all your yarn tails. Thread each tail onto your tapestry needle and weave it in and out of the stitches on the wrong side of the mat (the back face) for about 2 to 3 inches, then reverse direction and weave back for another inch or so. This locks the tail securely. Trim any excess close to the fabric, but leave just a tiny bit of tail so it doesn’t pull free.
Next, take a good look at your mat. T-shirt yarn tends to produce a slightly uneven surface right off the loom, and this is completely normal. Lay the mat flat and smooth it with your hands, gently stretching it into shape if needed. You can also wet-block the mat by submerging it briefly in cool water, gently squeezing out the excess, and then laying it flat to dry in the shape you want. This can even out any uneven tension and gives the mat a beautifully finished look.
Once your mat is dry, place your non-slip underlay beneath it before putting it in the bathroom. For cutting the underlay, simply trace the outline of your mat onto the pad and cut just inside the line so it’s hidden when the mat is in place.
Washing and Care Instructions
One of the great advantages of a cotton t-shirt yarn bathmat is that it’s fully washable. For best results, machine wash on a gentle cycle in cold or warm water. Avoid hot water, which can cause the cotton fibers to shrink slightly, especially with homemade t-shirt yarn. Tumble dry on low, or lay flat to dry. Your mat will soften and become even more luxurious with repeated washing.
If you made your mat with store-bought t-shirt yarn, check the label for any specific fiber content notes — most commercial t-shirt yarns are 100% cotton or a cotton blend and behave predictably in the wash. If you made your own tarn from old shirts, the fiber content of those shirts will determine how it washes, so bear that in mind.
Tips for Making This Project Accessible with Closed Captions
This guide was written with accessibility in mind from the start, following the principles that make closed-captioned video tutorials so useful. If you’re following along with a CC-enabled video version of this project, here are a few suggestions for getting the most out of both resources together.
Pause the video at each major step and read the corresponding section here for additional detail. Video tutorials show you motion and rhythm, while written guides give you the chance to re-read instructions as many times as you need without rewinding. When captions describe a specific hand motion, like “e-wrap” or “knit off,” cross-reference that term in this written guide for a more thorough explanation of what’s happening.
If you have hearing loss or prefer to learn without audio, this written guide is designed to stand entirely on its own. Every step is described in enough detail that you can complete the project from start to finish without any video reference at all. Diagrams or still images can be helpful supplements if you find a particular step confusing, and many loom knitting communities on platforms like Pinterest and Ravelry have photo-based tutorials you can cross-reference.
Variations to Try Once You’ve Mastered the Basic Mat
Once you’ve made your first bathmat and gotten comfortable with the loom knitting rhythm, there are many ways to expand on this project.
A longer mat — sometimes called a runner — can be made by simply continuing to knit more rows until you reach 36 or even 48 inches. A matching set of a large mat and a smaller hand towel holder makes a lovely coordinated set for a bathroom.
You can also experiment with texture by alternating the basic flat stitch with a twisted stitch on alternating pegs, which creates a subtle ribbed or basketweave effect on the surface of the mat. This adds visual interest without significantly increasing the complexity of the project.
Color blocking — knitting large solid sections of different colors rather than stripes — is another visually striking option that requires no additional technique, just a color change at a specific row rather than every few rows.
For a more rustic or bohemian look, try combining two strands of thinner t-shirt yarn held together as one, using colors that are slightly different but harmonious. The resulting fabric will have a beautiful marled texture that looks incredibly sophisticated for a project made on a simple loom.
Why This Project Makes a Wonderful Gift
A loom knit bathmat made with t-shirt yarn is one of the most practical and heartfelt handmade gifts you can give. Homemade textiles carry warmth and care in a way that store-bought items simply can’t replicate. A mat in someone’s favorite colors, or made to match their bathroom decor, shows that you paid attention and put in real effort.
Because the material is machine washable and the finished product is genuinely durable, it’s a gift that will be used for years rather than tucked away. It’s also a wonderful project to make for new homeowners, new parents setting up a home, or as a holiday gift for a family member who appreciates handmade items.
Final Thoughts
Making a loom knit bathmat with t-shirt yarn is one of those projects that rewards you from the very first row. The thick, satisfying loops of tarn build up quickly on the loom, and within a few hours you’ll have something beautiful and functional taking shape right in your hands. Whether you’re completely new to loom knitting or returning to the craft after a break, this project is the perfect size — manageable enough to finish in a single dedicated crafting session or spread across a few evenings, but large enough to feel like a real accomplishment when it’s done.
The fact that the finished mat is washable, durable, and genuinely useful in everyday life makes it all the more satisfying. There’s something deeply rewarding about a craft that connects your hands, your creativity, and your home in such a direct way.
So set up your loom, pull out that beautiful t-shirt yarn, and start wrapping. Your future self will appreciate something wonderful waiting on that bathroom floor every morning.
