Tshirt latch hook area rug - or why I'm having children

[melissa!]

This is what you get when you take
(50) church "shorty shirts" (the armpit up of a tshirt)
(20) full xl and xxl defunked church tshirts (as soon as I'm back home, I can post a pic of one)
(3) latch hooks (because I broke the first two)
(1) package of "deep orange" dye
(1) emergency package of "chestnut" dye for when deep=high lighter
(1) 4ft X 3ft latch hook canvas
(85) hours of labor during the months of March-July
(6,600) small 2.5 inch long pieces of tshirt scraps
and
(1) girl who will never undertake this project again (or so I say now, because I do love love love the results)


So, for anyone who cares for a little background info on the project, I was tasked with finding a useful purpose for 300 white tshirts with a large blue and purple logo from a now defunct church. I started this off by crocheting dozens of rugs, the problem being, that when you make tshirt yarn the whole top of the shirt is left over. Refusing to give up and throw those parts out (because that would be defeating the purpose) I thought of latch hook. An activity I never particularly enjoyed when I was a kid. So, after 85 (at least) hours of work, I wound up with an area rug, which now looks quite nice (and inspires envy) in my dorm room.

Here's how many scraps I thought I'd need. This is 50 shorty shirts all cut up.
I had to use another 20 full shirts however, and I made the rug two rows shorter than it could have been because, let me tell you, if you plan to make one of these, you WILL severely underestimate the amount of tshirt you will need.


(You'll probably need this x2, no lies.)


If anyone would like a tutorial of sorts, I will be happy to put one together. I have most of the pictures I need for one. (I think)

Oh yes, and the subtitle of "why I'm having children."
The whole process I've been joking that I WILL be having kids for sure now for the sheer fact that someone needs to inherit this, and I don't care how ugly my grandkids think it is, they WILL be using it in their homes.

[tynwia]

I am totally hitting this rocks!!
Wow the time and effort you put into this. It is awesome. Kudos

[skankin kiwi]

This is amazing!!
You have inspired me to try this with the leftover sleeves from a t-shirt quilt!
Great job!

[Asheri]

I love it! I was thinking about making something similar for myself, but I may just stick to a lumpy crocheted version to preserve my own sanity. I can't imagine latch hooking for 85 hours.
Hats off to you, though!

[melissa!]

Thanks everyone!


Asheri
Well... about 10 of those hours were spent ripping and cutting all the little pieces.
I spent my 85 watching a plethora of tv shows and movies. Even if you just did it while watching nightly tv shows, you could probably get it done in a couple months.

skankin kiwi
I would make sure you either have plenty of sleeves in the same color, or that you plan to stripe it, or something. I made a smaller version that is the size of a door mat, and it took about 10-15 full tshirts.

[PixieVal]

Awesome rug, and great determination!

[FoxyBlue]

Wow!!! This is amazing! Talk about non-instant-gratification! lol

[heatheres76]

I love this! I totally want to try it now!

[Pfefferminztea]

Wow, I wish I would ever come up with a project as amazing as this one...!

[deregering]

It does look great, so your future kids should be happy!

[suzeqz]

Too funny, and too, TOO COOL! "Non-instant-gratification" indeed. And who knows? By the time you have grandkids, this rug may be all the rage and they'll all be fighting over it. And then you'll have to make more so they can all have one! 

ROCKing this!

[alexxxx]

wow! you did a great job!

As winter is setting in i am weighing up the pros and cons about making my own rug from my front room or biting the bullet scriming and starving  ;Dand buying one..... but i think you might have swayed me

[melissa!]

I totally think it's worth making your own rug... so much so that I've been considering making one for my mom as a belated wedding gift. It's just time consuming. Very time consuming... though if you do it 2hours a night while watching tv that's 10 hours a week (we'll say) and you could finish in 2 months.
Plus, doing it over the winter it won't be so hard to do, because it won't set you on fire to work on it. I think my rug weighs around 20lbs sooo... in July when it was at 18lbs and I was working on it, I thought I was going crazy with the worlds heaviest blanket on my lap.

[MareMare]

This is so cool! You rock for having that much patience. Also, I have those same shoes in gray and <3 them.

[theaveragedream]

This is awesome! Yes, if you ever put up a tutorial, I would be so excited to make one of these. I desperately need a rug in my bedroom and living room

[Len]

I love it! This definitely rocks! (And yeah, a tutorial would rock, too  )

[PixieVal]

I keep wanting to make a rug like this! I must know before I start one though... How is it to vaccuum?

[melissa!]

I haven't even tried to vacuum it for fear I'll ruin all that work, so I just shake it out outside, or inside when I'm lazy, and it's all clean, and then I vacuum up the mess. I think if you use the hose attachment, or turn the roller thing off it would vacuum just fine though (but the vacuum in our dorm does not work like that, so I haven't tried).

[Jorie]

Would really like a tute for this. Looks like at least at the begnning it would be a great craft to work on in my crafting groups.

[EruDani]

I'd really like the tutorial as well! I loved the rug!
Thanks for sharing! 

[Lynnz232]

I love making things out of my husbands old t-shirts... Thanks for the great idea!

[liljinkss]

Love it! I would love to see a tutorial! I know how to make tshirt yarn but I'm unsure of how wide/long you need the strips to be! This will be a great project for our future house!

[melissa!]

I am out of school on April 30th, at which point I hope I will have some free time to finish up the tutorial... life has DEFINATELY gotten in the way of crafting... oh how I miss crafting... Hopefully you can all wait that long, if not, just try to make thin tshirt yarn in 3 in pieces, and only hook in every other square and then stagger it on the next row you do.

[katshe]

found this tutorial.
http://xoelle.com/2009/05/t-shirt-latch-hook-rug-tutorial/

[melissa!]

That's a pretty perfect tutorial. I don't know if I can add much more to it than what she has... my pictures are basically the same but in orange. lol. So... if you need to ask questions you can totally ask me, but I'd suggest just using that.