Hula Hoop Rug (with suggestions and improvements)

Now that Spring is here, I've been considering snagging a tool for a tutorial that I'd pinned several months ago. That's right...it's HULA HOOP SEASON! The hoops that I've seen at the dollar store are far too flimsy to hold up for my purpose, but I've spotted a few at other discount, craft, and hardware stores that seem to be sturdy enough to withstand use in this project. I think I may snag a $5 one at Michael's this weekend.

This tutorial on Spoonful.com by Nicole Blasenak Shapiro looks like a great turn-on-Netflix-for-an-evening-or-rainy-afternoon-and-keep-your-hands-busy project. Depending on the colors of t-shirts you use, it could make a nice casual rug for a kitchen, kid's room, or covered porch area (Mine would likely be various shades of faded black and grey due to my household's massive black gamer/band shirt hoard). The best part is, because of the nature of this project, it's a perfect use for stained, torn, or fraying shirts.

The folks at Once Upon A Family offer a few improvements on the original tutorial and I have a few of my own based on memories of such rag weaving projects:

-Keep tension consistent and do not over tighten in the outer rows. Uneven tension will make the rug lumpy and warped when it is removed from the "loom". Also overly tight outer rows will make the rug "cup" and look like a shallow bowl.

-Cut even strips of fabric since variations in strip width will make the rug lumpy and wonky. A good width would be about 1/2 inch wide. Rotary cutters make cutting the strips a whole lot simpler and more uniform.

-One of the ways to help disguise the knot lumps at the outer edge of the rug is to make hitch knot fringe. While the tutorial shows using a crochet hook to make the tassels, you may find that using your fingers is easier.

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The project does use up a number of t-shirts (a dozen or so), which is great if you have a bunch of old t-shirts to recycle, but it could get rather expensive if you're buying them second hand for this purpose. 

Some source ideas to keep the project cost down

-Garage sales: Depending on the neighborhood and the motivation of the sale holder, you might be able to get old shirts for a quarter or so each. Garage sale prices often drop drastically in the late Saturday afternoon when the homeowner is sick of sitting in their driveway and would really just like their flotsam to go away (I know that's usually my sentiment around 3:30).

-Community/church/temple rummage sales: Often they'll have a point near closing where you can buy in bulk for a set price (Ex: All of the clothing you can stuff in a grocery bag for a buck or two).

-Ad specialty misprints: Mistakes happen and nobody wants 150 campaign t-shirts with a glaring misspelling of the candidate's name. These usually get trashed, but if you contact local printers to let them know that you'd be interested in such shirts, you may be able to get them super cheap.

-Bulk thrifts: There are a number of bulk thrift centers around the country like the Goodwill Outlet Store in Appleton, Wisconsin that offer textiles and other materials at a flat rate per pound.

-Freecycle "want" posts: Since old clothing  IS something that will often end up in a landfill, it's something perfectly rational to ask for. Be forwarned though, practice good judgement when meeting other Freecyclers to pick up items. Most Freecyclers will leave their items out on their front porch/in their mailbox/by their front door for pick up. Entering a stranger's home is unwise.

-Group sourcing: While this is obvious, I'm going to mention it anyway. Let your co-workers/family/friends/etc know that you're collecting old shirts. If someone gives you a ton of discarded shirts, a nice "thank you" might be a rug of their own.