Upcycle: Tshirt into funky necklace

I am going to be fully accessorized by the time Fall rolls around!  I've been madly purging my closet -- ten year old suits? Yeah, don't think I'm going to be needing those! -- and finally made the decision to discard some old jersey gaucho-type pants that the Hubs hates. Did I say HATES!? {But they're soooooo comfy...and I work from home...and no one sees them...and and and...}

Of course, about 2.5 seconds after I put them in the Goodwill bag I was taking them back out thinking "I know I can make something with all this material!" I was inspired by an old post on the Method blog about the scarves they made from old tshirts and decided to try some necklace type accessories.

You don't need ugly gauchos to make these. Any old tshirt will do! I started by chopping off a big piece to work with. If you're using a tshirt, chop off the bottom hem first. Leave the seams attached so you have a big tube. I used my ruler and rotary cutter to cut strips from 1/4" to 1/2" wide, stopping just short of the seams on the top and bottom so that the whole things would stay attached together. You don't have to leave it attached though.

Once the strips were all cut, I gathered them together, then wrapped extra strips around the seams to hide them. Just tuck those little tails under.

The blue version I made was the first, so I just played with it a bit. It was long, so I wrapped it around my neck twice, then added a shorter version for volume. It turned out more scarf-ish like this.

The second one I made, in olive green, used a much wider piece of the leg. If you're using a tshirt, you'll want to judge how big of a piece to use by how thick your tshirt is. My ugly pants were made of  a very thin jersey.

After putting it together, I clipped one strand from each side and slid some beads on, adding knots between each one, then tied them together somewhere in the middle.

I really like the way it turned out with the beads.

There are so many possibilities with these and no right or wrong way to do it. I think my next one will be braided! I already have my eye on a sage green tshirt the Hubs brought home from a conference last week. Think he'll miss it?

This post is linked to: Market Yourself Monday | Making the World Cuter Monday | Metamorphasis Monday | DIY Project Parade | Just Something I Whipped Up | Made by You Monday | Get Your Craft on Tuesday | Tip Me Tuesday | Take a Look Tuesday | The Inspiration Board | One Project at a Time | Nifty Thrifty Tuesday | Tuesday Tutorials | Works for me Wednesday | Look What I Made | Whatever Goes Wednesday | Blog Stocking Thursday | Frugal Friday | Friday Flair |