The Runner Rug Is Done

This was a tie-on project, using the remnants of the warp for the Dornik Herringbone throw rug. I used the same yarns to coordinate with the throw rug, but I wove this one plain weave instead of as a herringbone twill. 

The stripes were created by tying green yarn at the beginning and end of each threading section

So green was tied onto adjacent 8 and 4 threads (both even) and the 1 and 5 (both odd). In plain weave, all even numbered shafts lift together and all odd numbered shafts lift together. So the green ends look doubled in the fabric. Sounds complicated using words, but it was really pretty simple.

Yarns: 4-ply cotton

Structure: plain weave

Finished size: 23" by 68" excluding fringe

Eventually, it will go beside my Glimakra. I say eventually because my husband has a major renovation project going on in that room, so except for the weaving I manage to get done, the room is pretty much out of commission!

The Runner Rug Is Done © 2025

 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

Related posts

Coordinating Runner on the Dornik Herringbone Threading

Runner Rug: Glimakra Warped and Header Reveal

Quick Update on the Runner Rug 

Minor Obstacle

 Even so, my runner is now hemstitched and off the loom. I need to twist the fringe and wash it, and then I'll be able to see how it turned out!

Minor Obstacle © Mar 2025

by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

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Coordinating Runner on the Dornik Herringbone Threading

Runner Rug: Glimakra Warped and Header Reveal

Quick Update on the Runner Rug 

Quick Update on the Runner Rug

It's plain weave so it's going quickly. I was thinking using variegated yarn for warp and weft would create a more plaid-like look, but the shorter sections of colors don't lend themselves to that. But I like it nonetheless. 

Quick Update on the Runner Rug

© Mar 2025 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

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Coordinating Runner on the Dornik Herringbone Threading

Runner Rug: Glimakra Warped and Header Reveal

Runner Rug: Glimakra Warped and Header Reveal

I've been plodding away through the planning, measuring, tying, threading, and tensioning process, all the while wondering if my woven fabric will turn out like the idea in my head. Often it does not! So I was a little excited to finally get the warp on the loom and start weaving the header.

My idea is to use the threading of the Dornik Herringbone Throw Rug to create a design feature on a coordinating runner rug using the same threading. The throw rug was twill, but I noticed something when I did a plain weave header for it.

The runner header reveals that, indeed, my idea works, and also that I will get the somewhat plaid like look  I wanted by using the variegated yarn for both warp and weft. 

Except.

Except this one green stripe that shows the same plain weave under and over pattern. I'm not sure why! I did correct some threading when I worked out where the stripes ought to be and tied on the new warp. But there was no way to catch this until I started weaving. 

What am I going to do about it? Nothing. It's just the one stripe and for my purposes it doesn't matter. I can call it a design feature if anyone notices, which I doubt they will. 

The finished rug will probably have more white than is desirable for a rug, but I got the yarn for the blue, green, and yellow bits to match my quilted bedspread curtains.

I'll have weaving details in my next post.

Runner Rug: Glimakra Warped and Header Reveal 

© February 2025 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

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My Dornik Herringbone Throw Rug is Done

Coordinating Runner on the Dornik Herringbone Threading

Quick Update on the Runner Rug 

 

Coordinating Runner on the Dornik Herringbone Threading

Last summer I wove a throw rug for my newly set-up weaving room. As I wove, I entertained myself with a number of "what ifs" with the same threading. Could I use one of those ideas to weave a coordinating runner rug for that room? For example, something I noticed was when I wove the plain weave header, was that periodically I had two warp threads sharing the same over-under path.

This is because of the threading. Where the pattern reverses, the two adjacent warp threads are either both on even shafts (8 and 4) or on odd shafts (1 and 5).

This is usually considered a no-no for twills, but it works with the reverses in the herringbone pattern. What if I threaded these two warp threads in the same color (green) and everything else in the variegated yarn. I should get a rug runner with green stripes!

For the weft, I plan to use the same variegated yarn, which will give the effect of a pseudo plaid. Will it work? I'm fixing to find out.

Coordinating Runner on the Dornik Herringbone Threading 

© February 2025 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

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My Dornik Herringbone Throw Rug is Done

Runner Rug: Glimakra Warped and Header Reveal 

Quick Update on the Runner Rug

Bathroom Rag Rug: Off the Loom & Now to Decide

Fresh off the loom.

When I realized that the thickness of my rag weft was going to mean that my length calculations were off, I resigned myself to the idea of not liking the final product and needing to weave another. 

Last night I wove it out as far as my weft would let me go, finished the hemstitching, and laid it out on my studio floor to stare at it for awhile so I can decide what I think. It's definitely not what I planned, so I'm surprised that I kind of like it.

Off-the-loom measurements are 48 inches by 20.25 inches. The fabric is somewhat loose, so the first thing I need to do is give it a good washing and drying. That will shrink it a bit, and give me a better idea of its usefulness as a little bathroom throw rug. It's a small bathroom, so the dimensions will certainly work. 

If that's satisfactory, I need to decide on the beginning and ending brown border stripes. I eeked out as much at the end as I could, but the warp was advanced as far as she was going to go, so I only got two picks in. The beginning brown border stripe is eight. It would be logical to reduce the wider stripe to two, which would mean I'd have to somehow hemstitch it off the loom! 

Weaving another and using this one as a learning sample isn't off the table. I like the pattern and would like to experiment more with block size and color. But I've also got a lot of other ideas floating around in my head, so if my proposed ministrations work, I may just call this project done. 

Bathroom Rag Rug: Off the Loom & Now to Decide

 © Sept. 2024 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

Related posts:

Bathroom Rag Rug: Planning

Bathroom Rag Rug: How Many T-shirts Will I Need?

Bathroom Rag Rug: Draft & Calculations For Warping

Bathroom Rag Rug: Weaving Thoughts

Bathroom Rag Rug: Weaving Thoughts

The rags are made from cotton t-shirts. How I made them here.

This is my first ever rag rug, so I have a sense of feeling my way. I am uncertain about how it will turn out. No, I didn't sample. I'm actually considering this my sample. I don't know if a mug rug would give me the same information as a larger sample will. The threading and drawdown are here. 

Table loom liftplan

Border (brown with tabby)

1-2 x 4

1-4 x 4

Body (with tabby)

yellow

1-2 x 12

1-4 x 12

orange

2-3 x 12

3-4 x 12

1-2 x 12

1-4 x 12

red

2-3 x 12

3-4 x 12

1-2 x 12

1-4 x 12

yellow 

2-3 x 12

3-4 x 12

1-2 x 12

1-4 x 12

orange

2-3 x 12

3-4 x 12

1-2 x 12

1-4 x 12

red

2-3 x 12

3-4 x 12

Repeat border

The variations in the orange from selvedge to selvedge is due
to the little clip-on lamp attached to the left side of the loom. 

Weaving observations

• The t-shirt rag weft takes up a lot more warp length than I was thinking about when I planned it.
• I did shorten the blocks from 16 pattern picks to 12. This was based on the elongated look of the blocks, which are stretched out under warp tension and will pull in a bit when allowed to relax.
• On the other hand, I'm doubting I'll be able to weave the entire pattern through.
• So I'm mentally gearing up to weave a second one with a length based on whatever information I learn from this one.
• There's a threading error! I discovered it after I'd tied on and tensioned the warp and really didn't feel like undoing all that to fix it. Probably won't be noticeable to anyone but me. 
• I'm curious as to how my adding extra warp pattern repeats in the selvedge blocks will work out. Okay, I think. 
• I'm glad I chose brown for both warp and tabby weft; that really makes the pattern colors bright and dominant.
• So far, I'm happy with the selvedeges. They are a bit bumpy looking, but in keeping with the rustic look of a rag rug. 

After a slow start (feeling my way) I've picked up momentum and it's going fairly quickly. That's one nice thing about a heavy pattern warp. So it should be off the loom soon. I'm curious as to how this first attempt at rag rug weaving will turn out. 

Bathroom Rag Rug: Weaving Thoughts

 © Sep 2024 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

Related posts:

Bathroom Rag Rug: Planning

Bathroom Rag Rug: How Many T-shirts Will I Need?

Bathroom Rag Rug: Draft & Calculations For Warping

Bathroom Rag Rug: Off the Loom & Now to Decide 

Bathroom Rag Rug: Draft & Calculations For Warping

I got the brown rug warp I decided on and then started on my calculations for warping my table loom. My 10-dent reed is 23.25 inches wide, so at most I could thread 230 warp ends, with two dents left over for floating selvedges. I had to figure out how to fit the threading draft to this, to make sure the pattern look on the rug looks symmetrical. 

The Recipe Book gives this for the threading: 

Read right to left

Motif

This is one complete motif. Fortunately, the Recipe Book PDF includes WIF files, so I was able to have a drawdown draft without having to work it out myself.

Two repeats of the motif would be 212 warp ends. Subtract that from 230, and I have 18 extra dents, 9 on each side. Should I leave them empty and make a narrower rug? Add a border? Or, widen the edge blocks to compensate for draw-in, which always makes the motif narrower on the sides. I decided to simply repeat the beginning and ending threading, to "fatten" the blocks on the edges. 

With that decided, the warp was measured and the reed sleyed, so the next step will be threading the heddles. 

Here's the draft straight from the Recipe Book WIF file, tweaked for color, but without the extra threading on the selvedges. Tabby shots will square up the blocks.

You can click to enlarge.

In other weaving news, Dan has informed me that the next phase of his project will be dustless. So I can take the dust covers off my floor loom and resume weaving on the lap robe. Weaving on it is a relaxing way to spend a 30-minute break, so I'm glad to start working on it again. 

Bathroom Rag Rug: Draft & Calculations For Warping

 © Aug 2024 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

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Bathroom Rag Rug: Planning

Bathroom Rag Rug: How Many T-shirts Will I Need?

Bathroom Rag Rug: How T-shirt Collecting Is Coming Along

Bathroom Rag Rug: The Hold-Up is Brown T-Shirts

Bathroom Rag Rug: Ready To Start?

Bathroom Rag Rug: Weaving Thoughts 

Bathroom Rag Rug: Ready To Start?

My husband Dan has a big indoor construction project going on, It invades my loom room, so to keep dust off my Glimakra and the lap robe I'm weaving, I covered it with old sheets. For the time being, working on the lap robe is on hold. I've got spinning and dyeing projects in the works too, but I really want to be weaving too. Thankfully, I think I'm ready to get started on the project I have planned for my table loom - the t-shirt rag rug. 

In hunting back through my blog posts, I see I haven't mentioned this project since last May, "The Hold-Up is Brown T-Shirts." After initially finding half-a-dozen brown t-shirts at the thrift store, I've found very few that didn't have side seams. I estimated I need ten extra-large. I check the thrift stores when I'm out and have added several more to the pile. I think I now have enough to get started!

Pictures of how to make t-shirt yarn in this post.

I've never woven a rag rug before, so I wondered about sett. It can't be calculated the same as plain weave or twill, because the weft is so much thicker than the warp. Rag Rug Handbook by Janet Meany and Paula Pfaff tells me that sett for rag rugs is commonly 10, 12, or 15 ends per inch. My 10-dent reed is my longest, almost the full 24-inch width of my table loom. So I decided it was a good choice. For length, I'm aiming for 36 inches plus fringe.

Warp color. Hmm. I have natural color cotton warp in my stash, but the t-shirt yarn colors are so dark and bright. I'm considering buying brown rug warp because I think the natural would tend to mute the visual affect of the colors. 

Quick calculations for a 23" by 36" rug with fringe suggest I'd need 460 yards to warp the loom. A half-pound tube of brown rug warp contains 840 yards, so one tube will do. While I wait on that, I'll finish up the last few t-shirts for the weft yarn. Hopefully, weaving will commence next week. 

Bathroom Rag Rug: Ready To Start?

 © Aug 2024 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

Related posts:

Bathroom Rag Rug: Planning

Bathroom Rag Rug: How Many T-shirts Will I Need?

Bathroom Rag Rug: How T-shirt Collecting Is Coming Along

Bathroom Rag Rug: The Hold-Up is Brown T-Shirts 

My Dornik Herringbone Throw Rug is Done

Here it is in it's new home . . .

The particulars

• Pattern: Recipe for Dornik Herringbone for tweeds from Mary Meigs Atwater's Recipe Book, Series IV, No. 12.
• Draft:

Screenshots of the original pattern can be seen in this post. 

• Loom: Glimakra 8-shaft countermarch
• Yarn: 4-ply medium weight cotton
• Warp: Peaches & Creme in "Happy Go Lucky" (variegated)
• Weft: Sugar 'n Cream in sage green
• Ends: 352
• Sett: 8 e.p.i.
• P.P.I.: 15
• Width 
• in reed: 43⅝ inches
• on loom: 39⅜ inches
• off loom: 39"
• wet finished: 35"
• Length
• on loom 71¾"
• off loom: 68" without fringe
• wet finished: 64" excluding fringe
• Fringe: twisted

Thoughts

• The draft was a good choice for a throw rug.
• The selvedges turned out well (always a concern).
• I chose the pattern from a photo of a sample. The tweedy look of it appealed to me. 
• However, my variegated warp yarn delivered a different effect, which is neither right or wrong, just different from what I was thinking.
• For example, the long wavy stripe left of the rug center. Not planned, just the fate of how the warp was measured. It definitely catches the eye and becomes a design feature (planned or not!). 
• Even so, I can live with it, and overall, I'm satisfied. 

My Dornik Herringbone Throw Rug is Done

 © July 2024 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

Related posts:

Step Three: Planning That First 8-shaft Project 

Dornik Herringbone Throw Rug: Starting to Weave

Progress on the Dornik Herringbone Throw Rug 

Dornik Herringbone Throw Rug: Almost Done! 

Dornik Herringbone Throw Rug: Almost Done!

It's off the loom and I'm twisting the fringe. 

As I'm working, I'm thinking about what else I can do with the remnant of the threaded warp. 

The first thing I'd like to do, is to tie on for a lap robe as a gift for someone in an assisted living situation. I can make it the same width, but not so long. I have some pretty yarns to work with and I think it will make a nice gift.

I'm also thinking about make a runner rug with the same threading. It will be narrower and treadled differently, because I'm curious about this . . .

. . . as a possible design feature.

This occurs because where the herringbone diagonals reverses direction, the warp ends are threaded on shafts 4 and 8. 

The reason for this is to prevent long skips in the pattern. The doubled warp threads aren't noticeable in the herringbone pattern, but really stand out in the plain weave header. 

My thought at the moment is to thread this doubled warp with the sage green, and the rest with the variegated white. Use the same variegated yarn as weft, treadle for plain weave, and I should have a cross hatch design with long green stripes. I'd have a coordinated runner rug in the same colors, while getting to play around a bit with a "what if."

So that's the plan at the moment. I'll weave the lap robe next because it will be the same width. The runner will be after that because I'll make it narrower than the throw rug. 

Dornik Herringbone Throw Rug: Almost Done!

 © July 2024 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

Related posts:

Step Three: Planning That First 8-shaft Project 

Dornik Herringbone Throw Rug: Starting to Weave

My Dornik Herringbone Throw Rug is Done 

Progress on the Dornik Herringbone Throw Rug

I haven't mentioned much about this weaving project because it looks pretty much the same as it did before. It's getting longer, but the pattern doesn't change, so it always looks the same.

Dornik herringbone throw rug on the loom.

The progress can be seen on the cloth beam.

I'm definitely no speed weaver, but I've developed a nice rhythm, so progress is being made. I'm aiming for a woven on-loom length of about 72 inches. In the above photo, I've woven 54 inches. It's a few inches longer as I go to publish this post.

Until I get better lighting set up, I can only weave on this loom during the day. That's when I get good light from the windows. June is a very busy month, so weaving is just half an hour here and there. But it makes for a wonderful break and it's enough to make progress.

Progress on the Dornik Herringbone Throw Rug

 © June 2024 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

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Step Three: Planning That First 8-shaft Project 

Dornik Herringbone Throw Rug: Starting to Weave

Dornik Herringbone Throw Rug: Almost Done! 

My Dornik Herringbone Throw Rug is Done 

Dornik Herringbone Throw Rug: Starting to Weave

Once the loom was dressed, I could commence weaving! This is always exciting for me, because I am wondering if what reveals itself on the loom will match the idea I have in my head.

Project Particulars

• Project: throw rug
• Pattern: Dornik Herringbone from Mary Meigs Atwater's Recipe Book.
• Loom: Glimakra 8-shaft countermarch
• Draft: I showed you screenshots from Recipe Book in my Step Three: Planning That First 8-shaft Project post, but I also created a more modern looking draft with WeaveDesign.

You can click on the image to enlarge it. Davison has the 4-shaft
version of this draft on page 25 of A Handweaver's Pattern Book.

Pretty simple, actually. Atwater states that the benefit of this particular herringbone pattern is that it doesn't produce a three-thread skip at the point of reverse.

• Yarn: 4-ply medium weight cotton
• Warp: Peaches & Creme in "Happy Go Lucky" (variegated)
• Weft: Sugar 'n Cream in sage green
• Sett: 8 e.p.i.
• P.P.I.: 15
• Width in reed: 43⅝ inches
• Width on loom: 40⅝ inches
• Projected length: 60 inches or so plus fringe

Weaving Observations

• It's pretty slow going to start. I'm getting used to the loom again: developing a rhythm with the shuttle, experimenting with how hard to throw it and how hard to beat, best time to advance the warp, when to change beater position, plus getting used to feeling for the next treadle with my feet. 
• The sett should have been tighter; I should have been thinking "twill." But I'm okay with the results, which I think will work for this rug.
• Not as tweedy looking as I imagined, but that's okay too.

 So far so good. Hopefully, I'll develop a rhythm and pick up speed soon.

Dornik Herringbone Throw Rug: Starting to Weave

 © June 2024 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

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Step Three: Planning That First 8-shaft Project

Progress on the Dornik Herringbone Throw Rug 

My Dornik Herringbone Throw Rug is Done 

Step Three: Planning That First 8-shaft Project

Continued from here.

Once the Italian manner crackle sampler was in progress on my table loom, I turned my thoughts to the serious planning of a first project for my Glimakra. I've forgotten more than I remember about dressing  this loom, so I'm thinking:

• Something simple
• Something with 8 shafts
• Something useful

What caught my eye, is a throw rug pattern I found in Mary Meigs Atwater's Recipe Book: Patterns for Handweavers. I bought my PDF copy on a USB drive from the Mary Meigs Atwater Weavers Guild. At $20 it's a real bargain. It includes the entire original Recipe Book (printable) plus extras such as fabric photos and wif files. You can follow that link to get a copy.

I was browsing the fabric photos and liked this one (series IV, No. 12)  . . . 

One of the many photo samples from the Atwater
 Guild's PDF Recipe Book by Mary Meigs Atwater.

It's labeled Dornik herringbone. 

Click to enlarge

Patterns include options for 4, 6, or 8 shafts. I'm going to use the 8-shaft pattern.

Click to enlarge

It looks pretty straightforward, doesn't it? I'll have to re-learn how to dress this particular loom back to front, which will take some time (but needs to be done).

For my yarns, I'm going to use 4-ply cotton, both for warp and weft. The variegated cone below caught my eye, and I was pleased to find that it coordinates with one of the curtain ideas I'm contemplating for the room.

Yarn for proposed throw rug warp on proposed window covering.

The window covering I have in mind is a quilted bedspread. It's just an inexpensive pre-printed store bought spread that I once used on our bed. I kept it to have extra blankets in case of company. I actually have two of them: one full size, the other queen size. I'm thinking these would make pretty but warm window coverings, which of course, is another project!

So the variegated yarn would be the warp. For the weft, I settled on a sage green.

It will work well with the warp, walls, and quilted bedspread.

It's been a slow-go to get to this, because I'm still going through the boxes that were stored in that room and sorting their contents. It's a job which may be ongoing for awhile considering our busy summer season. But at least I have a project planned, and I'm excited about that. I have this idea that if I can always have something to weave on one loom, I can be planning the next project for the other. While I truly enjoy every step of the process, sometimes I just feel like weaving! My goal is to have one loom in the weaving stage at all times.

It's supposed to rain all day tomorrow, so that may be a good time for measuring the warp and re-learning the step-by-step process of getting it on the loom. We'll see.

Step Three: Planning That First 8-shaft Project

 © May 2024 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

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Step One: Glimakra Assembled!

Step Two: The Countermarch Tie-Up

Dornik Herringbone Throw Rug: Starting to Weave 

Progress on the Dornik Herringbone Throw Rug 

Bathroom Rag Rug: The Hold-Up is Brown T-Shirts

As in, I need more brown t-shirts for the bathroom rag rug I have planned. 

I have a little over half of the brown t-shirt yarn required for the rug.

I've been plugging away at turning them into t-shirt yarn, but tt's been a slow go because they aren't that easy to come by. In thrift shops, that is. Brown t-shirts just don't seem to be all that popular. Or else, people want to keep them. Plus, I'm preferring solid colors for this project, but T-shirts in thrift shops are rarely solid colors. People mostly seem to pass on the ones with writing and logos on them. So there's a double challenge to fin enough brown t-shirts to make at least 207 yards of t-shirt yarn.

I'm still pondering the yellow t-shirts too. I have quite an array!

I bring scraps with me to compare for shade, but am finding that the lighting in the shops can be deceptive. What appears to match under fluorescent lights at the back of the store, doesn't match in daylight. Maybe I'll start with light yellow at one end and work my way to dark yellow at the other. 

So, I'm still plugging away at this. It's just taking longer than I thought it would.

Bathroom Rag Rug: The Hold-Up is Brown T-Shirts

 © May 2024 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

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Bathroom Rag Rug: Planning

Bathroom Rag Rug: How Many T-shirts Will I Need?

Bathroom Rag Rug: How T-shirt Collecting Is Coming Along

Bathroom Rag Rug: Ready To Start? 

Bathroom Rag Rug: How T-shirt Collecting Is Coming Along

While I'm working on the crackle Cottage Windows table runner on my table loom, I'm still on the hunt for t-shirts to make rag yarn for my bathroom rag rug.

These are all thrift store buys, and what's amazing to me, is how many shades of these colors there are. Yellows, especially, which range from neon to yellow-orange. Dark reds are just off enough to not match perfectly to my eye. Brown t-shirts seem to be more consistent, but harder to find. Either they are not very popular or else get held on to. I seem to have done best collecting orange t-shirts, which, while not perfect color matches, are pretty close. 

My current tallies are:

• Orange, have 4 out of 4 needed
• Red, have  3 out of 3 needed
• Brown, have  7 out of 10 needed
• Yellow, have ? out of 3 needed (depending on which shade of yellow I get the most of.)

Not all of them are X-large, so I may need a few extra. 

Since the t-shirts have been slow to come by, I've been re-thinking using them for the tabby weft. The pattern says the tabby can be the same as the pattern weft, but in a lighter color. Instead, I think I'll use 4-ply cotton for the tabby.

Fortunately, I'm not in a hurry. I'm enjoying the crackle pattern tremendously, and in fact, may do a second in a different color scheme next. Might as well take advantage of the threading while I have it. 

Bathroom Rag Rug: How T-shirt Collecting Is Coming Along

 © April 2024 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

Related posts:

Bathroom Rag Rug: Planning

Bathroom Rag Rug: How Many T-shirts Will I Need? 

Bathroom Rag Rug: Ready To Start? 

Bathroom Rag Rug: How Many T-shirts Will I Need?

Spring has sprung and although we're a good six weeks away from frost-free days, there have been many beautiful days to enjoy and lots to do outdoors. At last, we have a rainy day, so that I can get down to some of the calculations I need to make for my t-shirt yarn bathroom rug project.

I started by taking a look at my t-shirt inventory, which turned out to be not very many. 

Pattern weft colors, taken from our bathroom stained glass window.

Warp yarn at the top, and potential tabby weft

For some reason, I thought I'd collected more t-shirts that this, which obviously won't be enough. 

The next thing I needed, was idea of where the colors would go. By envisioning the pattern as quilt squares, I came up with this rough sketch.

I'm thinking the black would actually be brown.

According to the pattern instructions, each block is treadled for 16 shots and this sequence repeated 5 times. If I use my 10-dent reed, I'll have a weaving width of approximately 23.25 inches.

Based on this information and my above color diagram, I calculate that I'll need:

• Yellow: 96 shots x 23.25" = 2232" or 62 yards
• Orange: 128 shots x 23.25" = 2976" or 82.66 yards
• Red: 96 shots x 23.25" = 2232" or 62 yards
• Brown (pattern only): 320 shots x 23.25" = 7440" or 206.66 yards
• Brown for borders (still undecided here): another 20.66 yards

That's assuming I make my borders one block width. So the total for the brown would be 228 yards.

Tabby weft will be 228 yards. 

My next step was to determine about how much yarn I can get from one t-shirt. 

There is some waste because the top above the sleeves and hem must be cut off.

A good video tutorial to make t-shirt yarn can be found here.

Cutting the tube into strips like this is what makes it continuous.

Cutting the strips on the diagonal

Grasping the strip in both hands and tugging causes the edges to curl in on themselves.

My ball of finished t-shirt yarn. No fraying edges!

One extra-large t-shirt gave me a tad over 24.5 yards. A larger shirt would yield more, a smaller shirt less. If I'm able to find all extra-large t-shirts, I'm looking at needing the following:

• Yellow, total 3
• Orange, total 4
• Red, total 3
• Brown, total 10
• Tabby weft (if I use t-shirt yarn), total 10

So! I have a ways to go to get enough t-shirts. In the meantime, I'm going to look at getting another project on the loom. More on that soon. 

Bathroom Rag Rug: How Many T-shirts Will I Need?

 © March 2024 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

Related post:

Bathroom Rag Rug: Planning

Bathroom Rag Rug: How T-shirt Collecting Is Coming Along

Bathroom Rag Rug: The Hold-Up is Brown T-Shirts 

Bathroom Rag Rug: Ready To Start?