The Craft Cycle

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T-Shirt Yarn Basket Crochet Pattern

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By

Amy Ridehalgh

·

2–3 minutes

Whilst chopping up fabric to make into different projects, I realised I needed somewhere to store all the little offcuts. As such, I decided to make a scrap yarn basket for all my scrap fabric – it felt like a very full circle moment at the time!

My basket is by no means perfect but I wanted to document the pattern I used and what I learnt as, well, that is the whole point of my Future for Fabrics project: to explore textile fabric recycling craft projects.

So without further ado, here is my t-shirt yarn basket crochet pattern:

This pattern is written in UK crochet terminology

Finish every round with a slip stitch into the 1st stitch of the round. Chain 1, which does not count as the first st, to start the next round.

Glossary:

  • dc = double crochet
  • inc = increase
  • st = stitch
  • Rnd = round
  • BLO = back loop only

Materials:

Pattern:

To make the base:
Make a magic circle
Rnd 1: 8 dc into the magic circle (8 sts)
Rnd 2: Inc into every st (16 sts)
Rnd 3: Inc into every other st (24 sts)
Rnd 4: Inc into every 3rd st (32 sts)
Rnd 5: Inc into every 4th st (40 sts)
Rnd 6: Inc into every 4th st (50 sts)

To make the sides:
Rnd 7: dc into BLO of every st (50 sts)
Rnd 8-12: dc into every st (50 sts)

To add handles:
Rnd 13: 11 dc, ch 6, skip 6 sts then dc into next 19 sts, ch 6, skip 6 sts then dc into next 8 sts (50 sts)
Rnd 14: dc into every st, sl st into first st (50sts)
Cut yarn and weave in ends using tapestry needle.

And just like that you have your own basket made from recycled t-shirts! It’s relatively quick to make and very rewarding to use your upcycled creation.

Food for thought:

  • I combined various different balls of t-shirt yarn that were cut to slightly different widths. As such my end result basket isn’t as even as it could be. In future it might be best to cut the yarn for one project all in one go so as to keep it consistent.
  • The T-shirts I used for the yarn had side seams which pop out at various points in the basket. Whilst this adds a rustic charm I think I would prefer them to not be there. Ways round this include using t-shirts with no seams, cutting them out and tying each section together, or exploring different ways of cutting the fabric to avoid them.
  • T-shirt yarn has a natural stretch to it so keep this in mind when crocheting and try to avoid crocheting too tightly.

If you make your own I would love to see how they come out!

x

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