Video Tutorial Fail. & Tshirt Yarn Tutorial

Alright you crazy crafters, I did promise a tshirt yarn tutorial- however its not going to be mine today. I spent a few hours this week trying to edit and piece together my first ever video tutorial but... well lets just say some of the footage for important directions wasn't usable. What I learned: its really hard to direct, shoot, commentate, and construct all at once. I figured I'd just relocate the boys to the back yard and let me run wild... plop down in the grass with the loaner laptop... hit record... and go about my business. Nope. Besides crazy (noisy) vespa drivers enjoying a stroll down my country road, I also had company on screen- take a look. We sure had fun, and I learned a few tips that I'll keep in mind for the next attempt. There was a lot of interest in the how tos after I posted my upcycled tshirt yarn bowl that was featured on the blog last month.

Here's a great tutorial for tshirt yarn courtesy gracious rain blog. 

Start with a regular t-shirt that has lived a good life…no guilt now. It’s going on to a better place…really.

Cut off the bottom hem.

Now cut the top off just under the sleeves…

so you have a tube of fabric.

Fold it nearly in half, leaving the under side sticking out about an inch.

Now cut from right to left all the way up to and just past the top fabric, but leave the one inch margin of the lower fabric uncut. Repeat about 1 inch apart. Now unfold the fabric…

it should look like this.

The easiest way for you to hold the fabric and cut it into one continuous strip is to slide your arm through the two layers of fabric 1 inch uncut margin running along the top of your arm. I drew dotted lines  showing where you’ll cut your fabric–but you don’t need to draw the lines. You’ll be amazed at how fast you can figure this out and it’s really fun too, and for some reason deeply satisfying.

If you need more instructions click HERE for a sweet little diagram and bag pattern.

When you’re finished cutting, you’ll have one long, long, strip of fabric. Are you ready to make it more “yarn” like? Here goes!

Going down the entire length of your fabric, take a hold of it by one end and gently stretch it. It will magically curl up and behave it’s self just like it should. Very obedient stuff, I tell you.

So there you have it- tshirt yarn. Now what are you going to make?