T-shirt Yarn Crafts

I found a beautiful necklace on Etsy, and it's made from T-shirt yarn.

Isn't that gorgeous? How have I never heard of  t-shirt yarn before? So I did a little investigation (aka a search on Google), and it turns out that it isn't all that hard to make.

Here is a handy tutorial on how to make t-shirt yarn (or t-rope, as the instructor calls it), and this video shows you how to use t-shirts to make a couple of different types of scarves. I happen to have a few old t-shirts that I was hoping to do something with, so I pulled them out and started experimenting.

My first attempt wasn't exactly what I'd hoped it would be: I started with the blue and it didn't seem full enough, so I added in a couple of pieces of white to each side. It still just looked like an old, shredded t-shirt to me, though.

 

I had much, much better luck with the loose t-rope strands, though. I thought they turned out awesome, and I wanted to dress them up a bit. I loved the look of the fabric rose on the one pictured for the scarf tutorial, so I found this online tutorial to make a pretty, fabric rose.


I think it turned out great! The rose really does dress it up, and I love the look that burning the petals' edges gives it.

I sewed the rose onto a fabric-covered elastic band to make it easy to attach to the scarf (or a hair band, or anything else!). I can just loop the elastic over the rose, then fold the outer petals down to cover it.

So, I still wanted a flouncy, ruflle scarf, so I hit up the local thrift store and found a couple of t-shirts for $1, brought them home, and got to work.

I'm still in shock at how quickly you can make a t-shirt scarf using the methods in the video above. I made two new ones in about 30 minutes, at a cost of $2, plus the cost of a little fabric glue.

These turned out much, much better! I found the secret to getting a pretty ruffle is to start wide then taper slowly as you go, ending with a narrow cut. That really did make all the difference!

Here are the two new ruffle scarves:

 I would never guess that they were made with t-shirts!

Now, back to that necklace...I'm pretty sure I'd never be able to make something that cute, so for now I'll just have to leave it in my Etsy favorites. Hopefully I'll be able to buy it (or one like it from her lovely shop) very soon!