This is my 3rd basket experiment. I had a half-finished woven rag rug made from my old T-shirts and sweatshirts that’s been sitting on the loom for ages because I broke the warp threads and didn’t know how to fix it. I broke it down into warp thread and weft fabric strips and then crocheted a basket from the rags.

It’s a bit wobbly because not all the strips were cut evenly, and there’s a variety of fabrics used. I like that you can see the seams and even remnants of labels on the inside, hinting at the garments that the rags come from. I’m quite pleased with the result.

The unfinished rag rug on my big peg loom.

The rug broken down into yarn and fabric strips.

A late night test crochet to see if the fabric strips work. Ended up using a 5.5mm hook.

All done! A basket in the colours of the sea. I let the fabric strips lead me as to where the stripes should start and stop. This prevents having all the colour changes at the back, and looks more “meant”.

Gave the basket a picot edge to represent seafoam.

A closer look at the stitches.

All my baskets will now be measured in yarn capacity. This one is 2 -3 chunky yarn balls.

The bottom of the basket is fairly uneven due to some thicker strips of fabric.

Here it is in the Kallax unit with some of my other makes for an idea of scale.

This basket is now in the etsy shop.

I think if I make a lot more of these in future, I will invest in a way to cut more even fabric strips. Maybe I’ll start with a rotary cutter and a steel rule.

Although I didn’t finish the rag rag, it felt great to free up my loom again for future projects, and to turn the rags into a finished objects. Maybe you’ve got an abandoned project that can be transformed? I’d love to hear about it.