lazytcrochet / Flickr
Bargain Babe’s post about using wine cork and Patron bottles to redecorate your home on a budget, made me want to share a do it yourself project with you that will help you save money on fashion.
A fashionable and eco-minded friend of mine loves making her own statement necklaces like the fancy ones you see in magazines, at right. These necklaces will set you back about $10 to $30 at a store, but you can make your own and save money! I haven’t made one because I’m waiting for the perfect old T-shirt to upcycle into something fashionable and green. My friend has made several and showed me how. This necklace is super easy to make.
You’ll need an old T-shirt, scissors, and a couple of minutes. You can add flare to the necklace by incorporating beads. Here’s what to do:
- Cut the hem off the T-shirt. You won’t be using it.
- Next cut the body of the T-shirt into quarter-inch strips.
- Once you have the desired amount of strips, stretch them out one by one until they’re really thin.
- Then cut one more quarter-inch strip off the T-shirt and cut this strip in half. If you are adding beads, you can thread them on these strips, which will be used to tie the other strips together. You can also braid these strips or if you know how to knit, you can skip cutting this last strip and instead knit strips to tie the side of the necklace together, like the one pictured above.
- Lastly, put the necklace straps around your neck and grab all of them on one side. Use the beaded, braided or knit strips to tie the necklace on the sides so they are not loose. (You can also do it on just one side like the necklace pictured above.) To hide the ends of the beaded or braided strips either cut them off or tuck them underneath.
These are a great frugal gift so start making them for friends!
Welcome to Bargain Babe! I’m Mara, and I’m so glad you’re here. I am an obsessive bargain hunter and penny pincher, and I am determined to live a full life without EVER paying full price. 
very cool! i like this a lot! is there any way to get a closer look at the picture for detail?
Meital, I can send you a photo of my friend’s necklace.
What a great idea and beautiful necklace. I wish I had seen this last week, my niece went to a race on the hottest day so far this year. We were trying to keep her cool so we sent her with some dish towels in her cooler to wrap around her neck. If I had known about this necklace, she could have used it, soaked in cool water, around her neck and she would have been cool and COOL!!!!
I’d like to be able to get a better look at the photo too. When I increase the magnification, the decorative piece on the left of the photo gets too blurry for me to see what it is.
And I have a couple of questions:
1. Does the picture show 2 necklaces of different lengths or one necklace looped twice?
2. Do I have this right? When the t-shirt is cut into quarter-inch strips, each “strip” is actually a loop?
I’ve been going through my closets and drawers to get rid of clothes I haven’t worn in a while. I have a big stack of T-shirts that will be perfect for this. Have you seen any that use strips from shirts of different colors to make a multi-colored necklace?
Thanks! I love this!
@Dale The photo above shows one necklace looped twice. The side of the necklace is knitted with multi-colored yard – that’s why it looks fuzzy. I have seen necklaces that are multi-colored and they look beautiful. Tie-dye shirts work well for this! You got it right – the strips are loops.
Thanks, Yazmin!