I made a rug from old t-shirts

Remember those loop pot holders? As a child of the 80s, I loved those things. You got a plastic loom that was square shaped with rows of teeth on each of the 4 sides. And you got a bag of cloth loops made of jersey knit or similar fabric. You laid horizontal rows of loops across the teeth and then weaved vertical loops through. I made gobs of these. My mother always said she liked them.... After reading on ways to repurpose old t shirts into pants, I thought maybe I could use them to make a loop RUG. We needed a bath rug...so, off I went. Since Joe didn't have any t shirts to get rid of, I went to a local thrift store and picked up 6 shirts for a few bucks. I got a white, green, and blue shirts (I later learned that you really should get all the same size...this was a problem I had to fix after I got done weaving. I tied the long loops off to get smaller loops but ended up with some"tassles" on my finished rug. Oh well, you live and learn). I looked for ones that had little or no logo below the armpits. At home, I cut the shirts into 1 inch strips, thus getting loops of fabric. You use up the shirt until you get to the armpits. A large shirt yield approximately 11-12 strips. After I cut the loops, I stretched the loop out to get the edges to curl. This way you do not have to worry if you getting jagged edges. I had an old plywood board from a defunct art project and a box of nails left over from the deck project. I nailed a row of nails around 4 sides(in the shape of a square) to create my loom. From there, I just weaved from my memory of the potholder days. I finished off the sides by pulling each successive loops into the previous one and ended with a knot. I got a really awesome retro 80s 1.5 x 1.5 foot rug. Just remember that your finished product will be 3/4 the size of your beginning product, depending on high tight your weave is. And I ain't talking 'bout hair here! 

Also, I was a little scared to wash the rug but my dog forced me to do so by peeing on it after it was on display for a measly 4 hours. I decided to go forward with the regular wash cycle since gentle just doesn't get rid of the stain. So, I am proud to say it washes just like a t-shirt. I used regular cycle on cold-cold with my usual detergent and dried it on my regular cycle. Not only do I have a cute little rug, I also have something that's just as easy to wash as a t-shirt. This is very important in a house full of little feet and paws!

You can cut the sleeves into loops to make smaller items like potholders, coasters, quilting squares. I would die in a cloud of neon pink/yellow/green (80s) if I could get up the initiative to make a quilt! Just make an appropriate sized loom.