DIY: How to make T-shirt yarn

I just realized it's been ages since my last DIY on the blog! But this is a good one. It's quick, easy, budget friendly, and you're reusing stuff you would otherwise throw away. Awesome!
So I've been sorting through my wardrobe the past few months and chucked out everything that  I hadn't worn for a year or more. My mom gave me a huge bag of unwanted clothes in addition to my already gigantic pile. One part went to charity and another part got thrown away and then I was left with a bunch of stuff that was too good for the trash but not good enough for charity.
I was thinking about saving it for future sewing projects but thought better of it because - who am I kidding? So I made yarn.
T-shirt yarn is totally awesome. Your old shirts can be a rug, throw, basket or even jewelry in their second lives. T-shirt yarn can be crocheted or knitted or woven and you're not spending one penny because you're reusing stuff that would go into the trash otherwise - jackpot!

So here's how you make t-shirt yarn: 

1- Put the t-shirt on a table and flatten it out nicely. Then cut away the bottom hem and the upper part with the sleeves, leaving you with a rectangular piece.

2- Fold the rectangle over like you see in the picture, leaving a few centimeters at the top. Fold over again.

3- Cut the layered part into even stripes. Between one and two centimeters thickness is enough. Don't cut the part that we left a bit longer than the rest.

4. When you're done cutting you spread the t-shirt (or what used to be one) out again and take a look at the part we left whole. It looks something like a spine. Now here comes the magic trick that will get us a continuous thread in the end! Start by cutting from the outer edge towards the first slit on the left and continue by cutting diagonally from slit to slit across the spine. A look at the picture above should make clear how exactly. Continue until you have one long peace of t-shirt fabric.

5. Now the t-shirt color changes because I forgot to continue taking pictures with the other one. I can get caught up in my work sometimes...
To get a nice and smooth yarn without ragged edges give the whole thing a nice firm tug. Go along the yarn and make sure to stretch it out real good. This will make the edges of the yarn roll inwards and gives you a neat product to knit or crochet with! You also get some extra centimeters! In the picture above you can see the difference before and after stretching the yarn.
6. Roll it up into a ball.

Tadaa! I did this with so many t-shirts the other day that my hand started hurting from cutting all those layers of fabric. I can't wait to show you my first project with homemade t-shirt yarn!
Have you ever made your own or work with t-shirt yarn? What are your favorite projects?