DIY T-Shirt Shag Rug Tutorial! Dollhouse Edition :)

As some of you know, I am working on a dollhouse for the girls. This means creating lots of 'mini' versions of their things, like this rug I mentioned before. After posting I received some questions asking how I went about doing it. So, I figured it would be easiest to just share here!!


Materials Needed:
-T-shirt in whatever color you choose! (I used almost all of a men's size large shirt)
-Plastic canvas
-Scissors
-TIME & Patience. ;)

you might be wondering what plastic canvas is...this is what it looks like!

I found in at my local craft store for all of 30 cents! It was near the crocheting supplies & about the size of a piece of paper.

First, begin cutting your t-shirt into strips, approximately 1/2 inch thick...and somewhere around 3 inches long. I will just forewarn you, you are going to need way more strips than you think you will, so cut plenty, lol. I just tossed out the portion of the shirt with the seams, since they are thicker.




Once you have your strips cut you can go ahead and get started. All your going to do is knot each strip of fabric along the canvas. Like this...


it might help more to see it from the other side. For each little square of the grid, I took the strip of fabric in through the bottom left hand corner and up through the right top hand corner. Now, if you're having trouble getting the strip through, you can try using something like a toothpick, cuticle pusher....etc, to help 'poke' the fabric through. You'll notice on the edges, I tied some the opposite way...this was simply so that it didn't look 'bare' on that first grid. Then I switched after that.


after you knot it...you'll notice the strips seem long


it's okay, just cut them! I normally do about a row...and then go back and cut them. You could cut them shorter to begin with...to avoid this, but I know for me, having the strips a little longer, made it easier to knot them, so I took the extra step, left them longer...and cut them after.


I like to be on the safe side and make sure I don't cut them TOO short. So I do a quick cut first, then go back and even out a bit. Remember that texture is okay for this rug, so they don't have to be perfectly even.


then...just continue knotting until you have the size you would like!

then, right after this, I just simply trimmed the canvas down to the correct size!

That's basically it! :) You're done! You might notice some spots as you finish that seem a little bare, if so, just go ahead and add an extra knot in that area to patch them up until it is as full as you'd like!

You can also use the general idea of this for a full size rug, you'll just have to cut your t-shirt into larger strips and use a rug canvas instead!

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions! ♥