Playing With T-Shirts

There are some interesting trends re-purposing t-shirts.  Although I am not a trendy gal, I do produce a lot of t-shirt scraps when I make my quilts.  While walking through JoAnns one day, I saw this flier and was inspired to try my own version.

I was not sure what I would need, but picked up a few things in the jewelry area.

The first step in working with t-shirt strips is to cut the shirts.  My shirts had no side seams, so I cut off the bottom hem and made 1/2" strips.

Give the t-shirt strip a firm pull and it will curl in on itself to form a tube.  I usually pull it taught through my hands all the way around the loop.

I cut strips of black and grey t-shirts and began to play!

I folded the grey strips in half, opened the loop on the chain and inserted the t-shirts.  It couldn't have been easier!  The t-shirts are long enough to fit over my head, so there was no need to add a clasp.

I like this long chain.  Add the plain, long, black t-shirt strips for a layered look.  My daughter thought it looked dorky, so she doubled up the t-shirt strips for this look:

I wanted to use the shamrock pendant but it just seemed two small for all the various entanglements I was working up.  So I simply took one black loop, slipped the pendant on it, knotted it above the pendant and slipped it over my head.  So easy!

Finally, for my last endeavor, I also kept it simple.  I took the long black strips, folded them in half and put them on. 

My style is a bit plain jane, as you may know, but playing with the t-shirt strips allows you to be creative.  It would be a great way to jazz up some old pieces you have or experiment with thrift store finds.