Upcycled Life: Braided coaster

That favorite T-shirt may have a stain or a hole, but it’s not doomed for trash just yet.

According to Envirornmental Protection Agency statistics, each American throws out about 81 pounds of textiles each year. But nearly all textiles can be recycled, and you can start at home.

This method turns any jersey knits – like T-shirts, leggings and even jersey-knit sheets – into soft, stretchy yarn. Once transformed into yarn, you can knit, crochet, weave and, in this case, braid a myriad of projects.

How to make T-shirt yarn

Lay out a T-shirt and fold in half lengthwise so the sleeves meet. Trim off the bottom hem and under the sleeves so a rectangular tube of fabric remains.

Adjust one folded edge to lay about an inch or so away from the other folded edge.

Using a rotary cutter or scissors, make parallel cuts every inch past the top folded edge but not all the way to the end.

Open up the fabric so you can see the uncut section that holds all of the loops together. Make a cut with your scissors inside the first slit and cut out diagonally toward the outside edge. This is one end of the yarn.

Now continue to make cuts from one slit across the uncut portion of fabric to the next slit. You will end up with one continuous length of yarn.

Gently hold one end of the yarn and pull, stretching out the knit and curling the edges of the yarn onto itself. This gives the material a nice finished look and conceals the raw edges.

Wind up the yarn into a ball, and you are ready to make something.

Braided coaster

Take three colors of T-shirt yarn and clip them to a table edge or a clipboard to hold in place. Braid the yarn to a length of about 70 inches.

Using thread and a needle, tack the ends together and start coiling the braid.

Use stitches every 1/4- 1/2 inch on the underside to stitch the braid to the inner coil. Repeat coiling and stitching until the coil is the desired size.

Tuck the ends under itself and stitch down to finish.