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How To Deal with Side Seams when Making T-shirt Yarn


One of my favorite materials to upcycle is t-shirt yarn. Many t-shirts are manufactured on tubular looms, so they don’t have side seams. Tarn (t-shirt yarn) made from these t-shirts are completely smooth. But what happens when the t-shirt has side seams?


I’ve had quite a few readers ask just that. Here is an email from one reader.

Your tutorial on making continuous tshirt yarn is so clear. Thank you. Can t-shirt yarn be made from tees that actually have seams on either side, or is it too bulky? —Maureen

You most certainly can make plarn from t-shirts with side seams. You’ll end up tarn that’s not smooth from end to end. The t-shirt strand won’t curl in at the seams. Think of nubby seams as little slubs. You can minimize these bulky bumps by snipping the points of the seams after you’ve cut and stretched your tarn. Just don’t cut too much of the seam, because it’s holding the continuous tarn together!


Check out my sketched diagram above. It illustrates how to cut a seam to minimize the seam slub.

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