In an effort to reduce our household waste, I am always looking for ways to reuse and recycle things. So when I finally decided that it was time to retire a sheet set from my linen closet I was left with a few choices. Donate it? No … After years and years of use — starting in my husband’s bachelor pad, then as our guest set, then as camping sheets — these sheets weren’t in any shape to donate. Throw them out? No … I hate wasting fabric. Recycle them … Yes!! And since I always have yarn on my mind, it was an easy decision what to recycle it into …Yarn! In this tutorial I will show you how to turn a flat sheet into one continuous ball of fabric yarn.
- flat sheet
- scissors
Making Fabric Yarn
Cut off the sewn edges from around the sheet (Fig. 1). Fold the sheet in half from top to bottom and smooth fabric so that there are no creases or bumps. Cut strips approximately 1-inch wide starting from the folded end of the fabric and stopping about 1-inch from the other end (Fig. 2).
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
So far, so good?
Fig. 3
Now, starting from one of the corners that was just cut, start rolling the strip into a ball. You should have one continuous strip of fabric (Fig. 4).
Fig. 4
Hey is there a video on cutting a continuous strip? Thanks for the help.
that might work out if you were to use knit sheets because there is little to no fraying. You can also try making thinner and thinner stripes by using the pillow cases. I know that in thrift stores theyre usually in a perfect state to experiment with.
Love the info. One thought: cut the strips on the bias. This may help with the loose threads and will give the resulting yarn some stretch.
So glad I saw this! I do locker hook rugs. This will cut down on the joining of strips.😊 Thank You!
Hi, thanks for the great tutorial. I have a question…I have a HUGE piece of fabric that I would like to make into yarn…so I wanted to know if you can fold the fabric more then in half to cut it so it doesn’t take as long to cut and still have it come out right? Or should I just cut the piece of fabric down first? As I said…it is HUGE 🙂
Thanks again,
Debra
not sure where I went wrong, but as I’m going to roll it up I’m getting weird edges/corners, anyone know?
You can round off the corners so they don’t pop out.
Kara, great site with lots of helpful stuff:) Have you experimented with a very fine yarn from sheets? I was thinking if you could get yarn down to half a cm would it fray too much while you were working it? Have you considered or tried some kind of glue (looking for a natural diy product right now) on the fabric so that it could be finer. I’m thinking of trying to get as fine as I can but wondered if you had any tips?
I have not, but if you do, definitely let us know how it comes out 🙂
This is fantastic! Thank you for sharing. I have a ton of fabric at home that has no real use and has been sitting in the closet for much too long. This would be a fantastic way to help reduce my fabric stash!
Loved the tutorial!! My “yarn” has a million strings everywhere. Do you know why and how i can avoid them? Thanks.
OMG! I’ve been searching for a tutorial on this for so long!
Thanks so much!!!
My pleasure! So glad you found it helpful!!
Does not hemming the raw edges matter in this, as I am worried about fraying…be a shame to go to the trouble and not have it last.
I haven’t tried hemming the raw edges. I do have a few fly away threads on the nesting bowls I made with my fabric yarn but they haven’t frayed. I think the stitches kind of lock the fabric from fraying. I’d be interested in hearing others’ experiences though about this.
Thanks a lot!
My pleasure, Ana 🙂
Thank you for a great tutorial. The diagram is what made it really make sense for me! How do you estimate who much of the strips you would need for a project? I would like to make a small rug for my kitchen but I I have no idea how much to prepare
I am glad you found it helpful! As far as estimating, that’s a hard one … I kind of just wing it 🙂
Thanks! A wonderful idea, and I hate to admit I would never have thought of it or that it would work without a “real” someone saying so.
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Thank you SO much for this tutorial! Our fitted sheet from our king size bed recently started tearing. Rather than simply throwing it out, I want to make something useful with it…there’s plenty of fabric there for making yarn.
I’d read someone else’s description of making an item out of cut up sheets, but she tediously sewed together the strips after cutting them straight. I knew there was a way to do this as one continuous strip…thank you for explaining so clearly, step by step! 🙂
what a great idea,thanks for explaining it,making much easier to do. I will be doing this, always looking for storage ideas,this will cost be nothing but my time.
Thank you so much for a great idea to use my sons baby sheets from his first bed.
I love this idea… I have some fabric I’m going to do this with! Thanks for posting this and making it look so easy!
I’m your newest follower!
If you stitch the fabric together exactly one row offset, and clip through all the lines, you’ll end up with a continuous loop and no corners. If you use a rolled-hem seam (say, on a serger) to do the seam it will be a minimal-bulk join.
Great ideas!! Thanks for sharing!
THanks so much for the tutorial. IT is very easy to understand. Can you tell me where can I find the pattern for the basket?
I am so glad you found it helpful and easy to understand. Here is the link to the nesting baskets pattern. Hope you enjoy it! http://www.petalstopicots.com/2012/03/green-crocheting-fabric-nesting-baskets.html
Great tutorial.
Very helpful tutorial, thanks so much!!
Thank you so much for this! I think I got it, I just need to find a sheet to sacrifice lol
Thanks so much for linking up at Live Laugh Linky! Hope you’ll stop by again this week.