Upcycle T-shirt necklace.

One of the reasons I started this blog was to share my creative endeavors. When we move to our new house one of the things my Husband & I were the most excited about was having our own creative spaces. I still need to get things organized, shelves hung up, & some really ugly wallpaper border removed before I am going to post pics of my space.

Here is what I whipped up last night. It's a really easy projects & there are tons of tutorials on line. I watched a couple of videos, & read a few Blog tutorials. Then I went to the basement & dug through my summer clothes & found two T-shirts I don't ware anymore. Each necklace took about a half hour or less to make, & the bracelets were even faster.


For the necklaces I tried two techniques. For the white necklace I tried cutting wider 1"strips & narrower 1/2" strips, to see if the different widths would make interesting textures mixed together. The white t-shirt had a design printed on it which gives some of the strips a nice change in texture & color.

For the brown necklace I made all the strips the wider 1" strips. I think I like the wider strips better for myself, but liked how both turned out & think that a necklace with many 1/2" strips would be really nice too.

If you can find a t-shirt without side seams the process is much easier. Both my t-shirts had side seams. So I had to line up the seam portion of the strips to cover them with the piece of fabric you bind all the loops with. I first tried making a longer white necklace with two areas bound together to hide the seams, then decided that I like the look of the shorter necklaces so I doubled the loops & bound the two seam portions of the necklaces together.


For the bracelets. There are two options. If your shirt has long enough sleeves you can repeat the necklace process with the sleeves. Both of my shirts had shorter cap sleeves, which is probably why I didn't ware either of the shirt (I have to remember that when shopping). I took a loop made from the T-shirt & tripled the loop length matching the seams up & wrapped them to bind the lops together. I find that the white shirt material looks a little too casual for me. Possibly adding some gold charms or details might help dress them up.

My next attempt I would like to mix colors to crate contrast or possibly something monochromatic. Some tutorials suggested adding charms or embellishments to the necklaces. I think that playing with lengths in the same necklace would also be interesting.

There are two ways to cut your t-shirt. Either scissors or a rotary cutter with a self healing mat. I personally liked using the rotary cutter with a straight edge for ease, and consistency.

If anyone is interested in the white necklace & bracelets. I would be willing to part with them, so just leave a comment or contact me & let me know.