Friendship Bracelet: Tutorial

Here is a really easy friendship bracelet tutorial!

They are easy enough for kids to make too!

Getting started...

#1. You will need:

•  a long piece of t-shirt yarn in any color (you can also make by cutting a long strip of t-shirt about an inch wide and pulling the ends to stretch and lengthen)
• embroidery floss/thread in as many colors as you choose
• a safety pin

#2. Tie a loop at one end of the t-shirt yarn with an overhand knot

             

The Knots...

#3. Safety pin the looped piece of t-shirt yarn to your knee

Cut the embroidery floss in long pieces (around 40 inches in length of each color, depending on wrist size and the amount of different colors used)

Tie (with a double knot) the group of embroidery threads to the top of the piece of t-shirt yarn as close to the knot of the loop as possible, leaving a couple inches of length on one end and the bulk of length on the other

#4. Hold down the long portion of the t-shirt yarn and all pieces of embroidery thread, including the short ends, except for length of embroidery thread in the color you want to show up

Take the chosen color and cross over everything else, making a 4 shape

Wrap around everything else and come up through the loop created by the chosen color of embroidery thread and pull the thread up towards the safety pin/ top loop to tighten the knot

Repeat this way of knotting (a forward knot) until you want to change colors

The entire bracelet is made of forward knots in alternating colors

Knotting Continued...

#5. Continue knotting, alternating colors as desired

#6. Once you have knotted about an inch or two down in length, you are free to cut off the short ends of the embroidery floss

Do not cut the long pieces of thread or t-shirt yarn off!

Finishing Up...

#7. After you have reached the desired length of your knotting, you split the amount of embroidery threads in two and tie a triple knot around the t-shirt yarn

Trim the ends of the embroidery thread

#8. To tie onto your wrist, slip the left over length of t-shirt yarn through the top loop and knot

Cut off excess length of t-shirt yarn on both ends (near the top loop and the end piece)

And...you are...FINISHED!

The good thing about using the t-shirt yarn is that it has a bit of stretch to it, so the bracelets are easy to slip on and off....making them easier to share and give to friends!

These look so cute worn in bunches!

Have fun and feel free to let me know if you have any questions!

T-Yarn at Michaels?

I thought it was funny...

While at Michaels yesterday (looking for stuff for my daughter's b-day party), I saw t-shirt yarn for sale in the center aisle! I don't think it was called the same and probably wasn't made out of recycled t-shirts, but it was the same idea. I was just surprised because I hadn't thought it had become so mainstream!

Here is the TUTORIAL I used to get started making t-yarn

(P.S. it's much less expensive to make it yourself~ especially if you use t-shirts you already have).

T-Shirt Shag Rug

I posted a loooong time ago about a t-shirt shag rug I made. I had a lot of requests for a tutorial, but I never got around to making one. Today, I found a tutorial for a t-shirt latch hook rug on Pinterest. I made mine differently, but the look is the same. For mine, I made a t-shirt base by sewing two t-shirts together in the shape I wanted my rug. I then sewed on the cut pieces of t-shirt in a spiral onto the base. For my version, I would recommend drawing the spiral line of where you want to sew the t-shirt pieces on, to make the process easier and more uniform. To make the pieces to sew onto the base, I cut up the t-shirts into t-shirt yarn, then cut the yarn into pieces double the length I wanted the shag to be. You will sew on the pieces in the middle of each piece, doubling them. I think my version would also work great for pillows or blankets.

Good luck! I will try to make a photo tutorial on this someday!

More Upcycled T-shirt Accessories

I've added more Crescen-T upcycled t-shirt accessories to my Etsy shop!

I've also introduced something new... the corsage bracelet. My 9 year old daughter loves wearing bunches of these, and they are much cuter than silly bands;) All of her friends love them too!

And here are a few more example pictures of what was added....

This necklace has already been featured in a treasury!

Thanks for looking!

Upcycled T-shirt Accessories

I have listed some of what I made from all of the T-yarn in my Etsy shop. I have decided to call it all "Crescen-T" to go with my shop's moon theme. I think the scrappy roses have become my favorite, and my little Sienna (pictured below) has become the perfect headband model:)

Crescen-T Upcycled T-Shirt Macrame necklace w/ Rose Brooch

Crescen-T Upcycled T-Shirt Macrame Cuff Bracelet

Crescen-T Upcycled T-Shirt Scrappy Rose Headband

T-yarn

Oh how I've missed working with t-yarn!

I finally got to cutting up a bunch of t-shirts I've been collecting.

I can't wait to make something with all of this yarn!

Hope to share something (maybe more of these or these?) soon!

Happy Wrists Upcycled Recycled T-Shirt Macrame Bangle Bracelets

**update: you can now find these bracelets here**

That is what I have been making with my t-shirt yarn.

They are so fun!

I added some to my other Etsy shop:

I also added some pretty recycled eco-felt flower hair elastic bands (with polymer clay button centers) to my threemoonbabies shop:


You can find them here.
Off to cut up some more t-shirts.....:)