DIY Fashion: Make a Necklace from Old T-Shirts

If you love DIY Fashion, learn how to make a necklace from old t-shirts. This is an easy no-sew project and is a great way to repurpose and reuse old shirts.

No two necklaces will turn out exactly the same. Make one for yourself and one for a friend.

If you don’t have some old T-shirts to use, head over to your favorite thrift store. You will often find us at Goodwill of Orange County You never know what treasures you’ll find!

It takes a little time to cut the strips of fabric but the end result is DIY fashion so unique that everyone will want to know where you bought it!

All you need are a few old t-shirts. We used these three shown in the above photo.

The project is very easy and is no-sew.

It just takes a little time to cut the t-shirts into strands. You can use a rotary cutter and mat or just scissors. You can pick up a rotary cutter and a mat at any craft store.

Step 1: Make sure the bottom of the shirt is straight and that both sides are equally level

Step 2: Cut off the hem (throw out this piece, you will not need it)

Step 3: Cut the shirt horizontally (starting with the bottom); these pieces can be anywhere from 1/2″-1 1/2″ depending on how thick you want the strands. Cut a few strands from each shirt.

Step 4: When you are done cutting your strands, place your thumbs on each end of the strand and pull apart. This will cause your t-shirt strand to stretch and roll into a longer piece. The more you pull apart, the longer the strand will be.

T-Shirt Necklace DIY reuse and repurpose

Step 5: Pick the color shirt that you will use to braid. Take three strands of that color and with an extra piece of fabric (you can get this from the sleeve), tie them together. Braid your piece. Tie off at the end (cut off any excess fabric above the knot).

Step 6: Take three more pieces of that same color, but this time cut the strand at one of the ends to remove the hem. This will make for three very long, yet thin pieces to braid together, then tie off the end.

* TIP: Make sure to measure the braided pieces fit around your neck in a length you like before tying them off.

Step 7: Grab as many pieces of the remaining strands (using the other two t-shirt colors) as you would like. We chose to use two of the gray and two of the black. Take the ends of the two braided pieces and the new pieces and tie the ends together.

* Tip: The pieces will not be the same size, so many sure you tie off at the ends of each piece to get a droop in your strands.

Step 8. Grab the two ends (which will be bulky) and tie them together. Make sure to try on the necklace and make sure it is the right size before tying them together, you can make adjustments.

Step 9: Choose a t-shirt color that will be used to cover the tied-off area, which sits on the back of the neck. Cut about a 2″ strip.

Step 10: Starting to the right of the knot, take your 2″ piece of fabric and make a knot at the bottom, Begin wrapping to the left, making sure the fabric doesn’t roll up on the corners.

Step 11: Tie off on the end and cut off any excess material.

Step 12: Place around your neck and pull the pieces to the lengths you like.

Step 13: Use one of the strands to roll up until it forms a flower. Hot glue the flower as it takes shape to keep it in place. Take a small piece of leftover fabric and hot glue the flower to the piece of fabric and then wrap that around the necklace and glue it into place.