DIY T-Shirt Necklace

Maybe this has been done before a hundred times on the internet already, but it was news to me. And to Martha, apparently.

I saw a pin for a recycled craft T-shirt necklace c/o Martha Stewart and watched the video featuring Queen Latifah. It seemed like an easy enough craft to do with materials I have on hand.

Easy enough, it was.

I have a dozen or so random t-shirts stashed under my bed, dating as early as a 2003 John Mayer concert (I swooned) and as recent as last year’s corporate 5K.

Some of the shirts were too sentimental to shred up for this project, some of them were too ugly. A bright yellow t-shirt from a 5k race in 2007 was practically neon and came two sizes too large. It was the perfect candidate for this project.

I also made a necklace out of a grey/beige t-shirt after my first success.

The best way to see how to do this is to watch Martha’s video. But here is the basic how-to:

• Slice off the bottom hem.
• Cut the shirt into 10-15 1″ strips
• Take each strip by two ends and stretch it out as far as you can
• Lay each stretched out strip down on a table
• Repeat the stretching with all the rest of the strips, and pile each one on top of the previous
• Grasp all the stretched out strips by both ends, then twist them into a figure 8 shape
• Use an extra piece of t-shirt fabric to tie the necklace at the top so the pieces stay together

Per Martha’s recommendation, I used a sharp rotary cutter and cutting mat to slice up my t-shirt. It took about 20 minutes to make each necklace.

I love them because they are big, statement necklaces. You could mix strips of fabric from two different t-shirts and make multi-color necklaces this way. In the colder months, they will keep necks free of drafts. What a fun, fashionable way to give new life to an old, retired tee!

What tour t-shirt are you embarrassed to have? Which one is your most sacred?

It was a big deal when I got to see DMB live for the first time, so the tour tee is very special to me (although I never wear it.) Most embarrassing concert that I went to is Katy Perry, but I didn’t get a t-shirt.