I’ve always been one of those kids who was involved in everything — clubs, sports, student government, a sorority. Over the years, the t-shirts from all of my activities have really piled up and I’m always on the lookout for a good t-shirt project. I hate to just throw them all away, in part because there is meaning behind each one and in part because I think jersey knit is one of the coolest fabrics to work with. You can cut it and it won’t fray, it curls up in weird little ways, and it’s stretchy.
With the inspirational wonderland that is Pinterest, I’ve been finding a lot of really unique and fun projects for old t-shirts, so I decided to make a version of my own.
To make this t-shirt necklace you need:
- Old t-shirt
- Scissors
- Needle and thread (or glue if you don’t want to sew)
Step 1: Cut your shirt into strips.
The first thing you need to do is cut your shirt. I chose a striped shirt so I cut at an angle so that the strips would be striped as well. If you use a solid-colored shirt, you can just cut straight across the body of the shirt. I’d recommend strips about 1” wide, but you can always vary that to taste.
Step 2: Make your strips into loops.
If your t-shirt strips are not in loops already, (Mine weren’t because I cut at an angle.) you can tie them together with little knots. I also didn’t like the look of the seam stitching that came from the bottom of the shirt so I snipped those off. After you have your loops, just drape them around your neck and mess with them a bit until they look the way you want them.
Step 3: Braid strips together for the wrapped embellishment.
To make the wrapped sections around your neck, you should use some of the extra strips you have or get another shirt and add an accent color. For my braids, I cut strips of a black shirt and a white shirt and then braided them together. I didn’t use strips from my striped shirt. After you have braided 2 cords, you wrap the cords around the section of your necklace where you want your embellishments. Stitch or glue the cords in place and you’re done!
