After cutting up a bunch of my boy's old striped polo style shirts to make t-shirt yarn, I just couldn't bear to toss the remnants, namely the section above the armpits, so rather than clean for Pesach I embarked on a small research project regarding using a pot holder loom to make potholders from t-shirt yarn and presented you with the post 3 Ways To Use Old T-shirts To Weave Potholders.
Of the three potholders that we wove for our research project, there was one that in my eyes was just right, so I now present to you the technique that we used, and hoping that this craft will not only get you too on the road to cleaning out those closets, but also teaching kids about the idea of re-using what we can, and recycling what we can't. Ready?
As you can see from the above photo, my potholder had nice top and bottom finished edges, and the right and left edges are decidedly rougher. This is because of the technique that I used, one of three techniques that I tried actually, that gave the best results. This pot holder was made using both t-shirt yarn and t-shirt fabric loops. Namely first I wrapped the t-shirt yarn around the teeth of the loom, and then I wove with the t-shirt loops in the other direction.
How To Make T-Shirt Loops For A Pot Holder Loom:
- Cut long rectangles that are a bit shorter than the width of your loom
- Cut a little hole in one end. (for this technique we dont actually need full loops, just little slits at each end) and round off the corners to make long ellipses
- Stretch your loop so it curls
How To Weave Using Potholder Loops With T-Shirt Yarn
- Using loops described above, place slit over desired tooth, and weave. When you get to the end, pull loop through the work, not too tightly though, and then insert over tooth either by cutting a little hole or simply making a hole in the fabric with the tooth.
- Trim off excess.
- You may then want to remove this loop and use that as a guide for the exact length of each loop. Cutting of the excess at the end does result in sloppier work I believe.
- When you have finished weaving, remove the piece from the loop as one would with any potholder.