How to Make a Beautiful Rag Rug (& DIY T-Shirt Yarn) — A Piece Of Rainbow

There is something deeply satisfying about transforming a pile of worn-out T-shirts and fabric scraps into something you actually want to put on your floor. Rag rugs have been made for centuries, born from the practical necessity of using every last scrap of material, and they remain one of the most rewarding textile projects you can take on at home. Whether you are an experienced crafter or someone who has never picked up a crochet hook in their life, making a rag rug is approachable, forgiving, and endlessly customizable. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know — from cutting your own T-shirt yarn to finishing a rug you will be genuinely proud of.

Why Make a Rag Rug?

Before we get into the how, let’s talk about the why. A handmade rag rug is so much more than a craft project. It is a way to give new life to clothing that would otherwise end up in a landfill. The average American throws away about 81 pounds of clothing per year, and a significant portion of that is cotton T-shirts and jersey fabric that could be transformed into something beautiful and lasting.

Beyond the environmental angle, there is the simple pleasure of making something useful with your hands. A finished rag rug carries the history of every shirt or sheet you put into it. That faded concert T-shirt from college, your kids’ outgrown pajamas, the flannel sheets that wore thin — they all become part of something new.

Rag rugs are also incredibly practical. They are durable, washable, and cost almost nothing to make if you use what you already have at home. You can scale the project up or down depending on how much material you have, making a small bath mat from a handful of shirts or a large living room statement piece from an overflowing donation bag.

What You Will Need

Materials

Old T-shirts and jersey fabrics — This is your primary material. Cotton and cotton-blend T-shirts work best because jersey knit fabric curls in on itself when cut into strips, creating a natural rounded cord without any sewing. You will need more fabric than you think. For a bath mat roughly 20 by 30 inches, plan on using at least 8 to 10 adult-sized T-shirts. For a larger rug in the 3 by 5 foot range, gather 25 to 40 shirts depending on their size and thickness.

Scissors — Sharp fabric scissors make a significant difference here. A dull pair will fray your strips and make the cutting process exhausting. If you are going to be cutting a large volume of fabric, consider a rotary cutter and self-healing mat instead.

A ruler or cutting guide — Consistency in strip width matters for the final look of your rug. A clear quilting ruler is ideal.

A large crochet hook — For a rag rug worked in single or double crochet, you will want a hook in the N/9mm to P/11.5mm range. The thick yarn calls for a large hook. If you prefer weaving, you will need a frame loom or an adjustable weaving loom instead.

Optionally: A blunt tapestry needle for weaving in ends, a non-slip rug pad for under the finished rug, and small binder clips or hair ties to keep your yarn balls tidy while you work.

How to Make DIY T-Shirt Yarn

Making your own T-shirt yarn is the first step, and once you know the technique, you will look at every old shirt differently. There are two main methods — the looped cut method, which produces one continuous strand, and the simple strip method, which is faster but requires joining pieces together. Let’s cover both.

Method One: The Looped Cut (Continuous Strand)

This technique gives you a single, long piece of yarn from one shirt without any knots, which makes for a much cleaner finished rug.

Step 1: Prepare the shirt. Lay your T-shirt flat on a table and cut off the hem along the bottom and the sleeves at the seam. You want a clean tube of fabric from just below the armpits to just above the original hem. Discard the hem and sleeve pieces, or save them for the joining method below.

Step 2: Fold the tube. Fold the tube in half lengthwise so the side seams meet. The fold should be at one side and the open edges at the other. Now fold it again so you have four layers of fabric.

Step 3: Cut the strips. Starting from the folded edge, cut strips perpendicular to the fold, stopping about an inch from the open edge. This is the critical part — you are NOT cutting all the way through. The strips should be about 1 to 1.5 inches wide. Work across the entire folded edge, making parallel cuts until you reach the top of the fabric.

Step 4: Create the continuous strand. Open the fabric back out to a single layer. You will now see that the strips are connected at one edge. Lay the fabric flat and cut diagonally from the first strip on the left side to the second strip, then from the second to the third, and so on in a staircase pattern. This connects all the strips into one long continuous spiral of fabric.

Step 5: Stretch the yarn. Pick up your strip and tug it gently. The fabric will curl inward and contract slightly, forming a rounded cord. This is the magic of jersey knit. The more you stretch it, the more it curls and the thinner and more yarn-like it becomes. Wind it into a ball as you go.

Method Two: Simple Strips with Joined Ends

If you are in a hurry or working with smaller scraps, this method is more forgiving.

Step 1: Cut your fabric into strips 1 to 1.5 inches wide, cutting in the direction that gives you the longest possible length. For T-shirts, this usually means cutting around the body horizontally rather than straight down.

Step 2: To join two strips together, cut a small slit about half an inch from the end of each strip. Loop one strip through the slit of the other, then pass the far end of the first strip back through its own slit and pull tight. This creates a flat, secure join that will not add visible bulk to your rug. Avoid tying knots, which create lumpy bumps in the finished fabric.

Step 3: Stretch each strip as you go to encourage the edges to curl inward, then wind your joined strips into a ball.

Tips for Beautiful T-Shirt Yarn

Wash and dry all your shirts before cutting them. Pre-washed fabric is cleaner to work with and you will not have any shrinkage surprises later.

Sort your colors before you cut. Laying out all your shirts and grouping them by color family helps you plan a color scheme for your rug rather than ending up with a purely random result. Random can be beautiful too, but intentional color placement gives a rug a more designed, coherent look.

Cut all your strips to a consistent width. Varying widths create varying thicknesses in your yarn, which makes tension inconsistent. If your rug has a section that looks puffy or puckered, uneven strips are often the culprit.

Choosing Your Rug-Making Method

Once your yarn is ready, you have several options for actually constructing the rug. The three most popular methods for home crafters are crochet, braiding, and weaving. Each produces a distinct look and requires different tools and skills.

Crocheted Rag Rug

Crocheting is the most popular method for making rag rugs because it is fast, requires only one tool, and produces a dense, sturdy fabric. If you know how to single crochet, you already know everything you need. If you do not, this is actually one of the best projects to learn on — the thick yarn and large hook mean every stitch is easy to see.

The most classic rag rug shape is a flat oval, worked in the round from a starting chain. To make one, chain about 15 to 20 stitches for a bath mat size. Single crochet into each chain, then work around the end of the chain and come back along the other side, increasing at each end to keep the oval flat. Continue working in rounds, increasing at each end to compensate for the growing circumference. Work until the rug reaches your desired size.

A round rug starts from a magic ring or a short chain joined into a circle, then grows outward with increases evenly distributed around each round.

A rectangular rug is worked back and forth in rows, which is sometimes easier for beginners. This creates a woven-looking texture that many people prefer.

Braided Rag Rug

Braided rugs are the oldest and most traditional form of rag rug and require no tools at all, just your hands. You braid three strands of T-shirt yarn together into a long braid, then coil the braid into a flat spiral and sew or lace the rounds together.

To make a braided rug, start with three strands of T-shirt yarn. Braid them together the way you would braid hair, keeping the tension even. As you run out of each strand, splice in a new piece using the joining method described above. Braid until you have a very long braid — longer than you think you need.

To assemble the rug, coil the braid tightly in a flat spiral. Use a tapestry needle threaded with strong thread or thin strips of fabric to lace together adjacent loops of the braid, catching the outer edge of one loop and the inner edge of the next as you go. Continue coiling and lacing until the rug is the size you want.

Braided rugs have a wonderful old-fashioned charm and are extremely durable because the triple-stranded braid is so thick and dense.

Woven Rag Rug

Weaving produces a flatter, more graphic rug with strong horizontal stripes. You set up a loom with warp threads — usually sturdy cotton twine or string — and then weave your T-shirt yarn over and under the warp in rows. The result has a neat, structured appearance and lies very flat against the floor.

A simple frame loom can be made from a wooden picture frame with finishing nails hammered at regular intervals along two opposite sides. For a small accent rug, this is entirely doable as a DIY project. Larger woven rugs typically require an adjustable floor or table loom.

Step-by-Step: Crocheted Oval Rag Rug

Since the crocheted oval is the most accessible starting point, here is a full step-by-step walkthrough.

What you need: approximately 15 to 20 T-shirts (for a 24 by 36 inch rug), a 10mm or 12mm crochet hook, scissors.

Step 1: Make your T-shirt yarn and wind it into balls sorted by color. Decide on a color sequence — alternating colors every two rounds gives a classic striped effect, while working with one color at a time creates bold color blocks.

Step 2: Chain 20 stitches loosely. Crochet chains made with T-shirt yarn can tighten up, so err on the side of loose.

Step 3: Single crochet in the second chain from the hook, then single crochet in each remaining chain (18 stitches across). Work 3 single crochets into the last chain to turn the corner. Now work back along the other side of your chain, single crocheting in each stitch. Work 2 single crochets into the first chain to complete the round. You will have an oval with rounded ends. Join with a slip stitch.

Step 4: Continue working in rounds. At each short end of the oval, you need to increase to keep the work flat. A general rule is to add about the same number of stitches at each end as you originally had in your starting chain. If your chain was 20 stitches, you are aiming to add roughly 20 increase stitches evenly distributed between the two ends across each round.

Step 5: Change colors by simply dropping the old yarn and joining the new one at the beginning of a round. Leave a 6-inch tail and weave it in later with your tapestry needle.

Step 6: Work until the rug reaches your desired size. Finish with a slip stitch and cut the yarn, leaving a 6-inch tail to weave in.

Step 7: Weave in all ends securely. The T-shirt yarn holds knots well, but taking the time to weave in ends properly ensures the rug holds up through washing.

Finishing and Care

Once your rug is complete, give it a good wash in cold water on a gentle cycle. This softens the fabric and also helps the rug settle into its final shape. Lay it flat to dry — T-shirt yarn rugs can stretch out of shape in a hot dryer. Once dry, block it if needed by dampening and pinning it to a flat surface in the correct shape, then letting it dry again.

Place a non-slip rug pad underneath any rag rug on a hard floor. This is important for safety as well as for protecting both your rug and your floor. The pad also helps the rug hold its shape over time.

To wash the rug regularly, cold water on a gentle cycle is fine. Avoid hot water, which can cause the cotton to shrink and the colors to bleed. Lay flat to dry or dry on low heat.

Color and Design Ideas

One of the most exciting parts of making a rag rug is the design possibilities. Here are a few approaches to inspire you.

A gradient rug moves from one color family to another across the rounds — perhaps starting with deep navy and fading through medium blue, sky blue, and cream toward the center or edge. This requires sorting your T-shirts carefully by color value.

A stripe rug alternates two or three colors every round or every two rounds. This is the most foolproof design approach and always looks intentional and polished.

A scrappy multicolor rug uses every color randomly, switching whenever one ball runs out. This is the most traditional rag rug look and has a joyful, improvised energy that can work beautifully in a kitchen or entryway.

A color block rug uses a single color for many rounds, then switches to another solid color for many more rounds. This produces bold, graphic concentric rings.

Troubleshooting Common Problems

The rug is cupping or buckling. This means you have not increased enough. Add a few extra stitches at the ends of your oval or distribute your increases more evenly around a circular rug. Blocking a wet rug flat can help with minor cupping.

The rug is ruffling at the edges. This means you have increased too much. Remove a round and decrease slightly before continuing.

The strips are fraying and falling apart. Make sure you are using knit fabric rather than woven fabric. Woven fabrics like quilting cotton or denim do not curl the same way and will fray at the edges unless you work with them differently. For woven fabrics, cut narrower strips and fold the raw edges to the center as you work.

The rug looks uneven or lumpy. Check that your strip widths are consistent. Even a small difference between strips creates noticeable variation in the finished texture.

A Note on Sourcing Fabric

You do not need to raid your own closet to make a rag rug, though that is a wonderful place to start. Thrift stores are a treasure trove of plain T-shirts in exactly the colors you want, often for fifty cents or a dollar each. Ask friends and family to save their unwanted shirts for you. Look for large T-shirts in solid colors, as these give you the most yardage and the most control over your palette. Avoid heavily printed shirts if you want solid color yarn — the print area becomes a stripe in your yarn.

Bed sheets, especially flannel sheets and jersey knit fitted sheets, are another excellent source of fabric. A single queen-sized sheet can yield a remarkable amount of yarn.

The Bigger Picture

There is a reason rag rugs have persisted across centuries and cultures. They are an expression of resourcefulness and creativity, a refusal to waste what can still be beautiful, and a tangible connection to the people and garments that came before them. Every rag rug tells a story in color and texture, and the one you make will tell yours.

Whether you work in long evening sessions with a podcast playing or in small stolen moments during nap time, the rug grows bit by bit and the process itself is meditative and satisfying. By the time you lay it down on your floor, you will have made something that is genuinely one of a kind — functional, colorful, and entirely yours.

So pull out those old shirts, sharpen your scissors, and start cutting. Your most beautiful rug is waiting in that pile of fabric you almost donated.