Recycled T-Shirt Scarf

This is a super simple way to use up some old t-shirts that you have lying around. It really only takes about 10 minutes to turn an old t-shirt into a super cute scarf! So here is the step by step!

Step 1: What You'll Need

What you need is an old t-shirt (with no seams down the side), a good pair of scissors, and a big tapestry needle.

Step 2:

First cut off the bottom hem of the t-shirt and put it aside.

 

Step 3:

Now cut the t-shirt into thin strips.

 

Step 4:

Keep cutting until you reach the armpits and have a pile like this!

Step 5:

Now this is the fun part. Take one strip and stretch it. As it stretches the sides of the loop will curl into themselves.

Step 6:

Which will look something like this after you are done stretching. Be careful if you are using a t-shirt with some tiny holes in it, as it will causes the loop to break. So stretch gently!

Step 7:

Keep on stretching until you get a pile like this!

Step 8:

Now you can either trim the seam off the hem or use a loop that broke while stretching for this next part. But basically you want a string made out off a t-shirt loop.

 

Step 9:

Take all your loops and hold them together. We are going to use the t-shirt string to hold all your loops together. You do this by simply wrapping the t-shirt string around the loops.

Step 10:

Keep wrapping it around, make sure to hide the starter end.

Step 11:

Keep wrapping until it looks something like this.

Step 12:

Now grab that huge needle and use it to weave in the ends of the t-shirt string.

 

Step 13:

And you are done! Now you can do a lot with this simple idea. If you had a bunch of loops that broke, you can add beads to them and tie the ends, you can braid them, you can use multiple t-shirts for a thicker scarf, you can combine colors for a multicolored scarf, you can use white t-shirts and then dye them afterward in a ombre style. Really the possibilities are endless!


Don't forget to check out my blog! http://bonafideboho.blogspot.com/

Comments

[appy678]

I made this, and a bracelet with on of the sleeves :)

[iamkeebler]

Looks fantastic!!!!

[monket]

This is awesome! Mine turned out kind of huge, but I just folded it over twice and it looks okay. Thanks for the instructable!

[iamkeebler]

Looks great! Mine turned out the same so I just folded it twice as well!

[KissOfLife]

This is a really cool idea!

[jamileena]

I made this with an old tie-dye T from my heyday, I couldnt bring myself to throw it out, so I made this scarf with it this morning in about a half hour. The colors from the front curled into itself, so the pink and green dont really show up, but when its twisted they uncurl here and there, I am SO happy with the results!! A lot of the loops broke, so I tied them together and used the same kind of knot on step 10-12, didn't have a needle, I just worked it out and buried the second knot-didnt want it to look *too* home made ;) I like wearing it both ways, long and stringy for summer as a 'neclkace' with a t and jeans, flip flops would compliment the airyness of the scarf. And in the fall/winter (now) its great looped around twice as a neck warmer with a t and sweater, or a long sleeved T.. I love this and will be digging out more old tshirts, adding yarn, fringey things, beads...Christmas is coming!!

[jamileena]

And forgive my manners, THANK YOU for the instructable!!! I stumbled across it, bookmarked it and came back .. its fab! Thanks again for the inspiration.

[iamkeebler]

Wow that turned out great! Glad I could help to inspire!

[baconrocks]

I made one of these and it turned out pretty awesome! :)

[iamkeebler]

Great to hear! You should share a pic!

[doormatyay]

this is cute and innovative!

[iamkeebler]

Thanks!

[NatureGeek24]

I just had some big white t-shirts given to me this morning that I was thinking "what can I make with these"...... quite serendipitous to run across this. :-) I think I'm going to ombre dip-dye it first, then make it to get the colors all mixed up and blended. Very nice.

[iamkeebler]

Ooooooo that would be really pretty!

[supersoftdrink]

Beautiful scarf! How warm is it?

[iamkeebler]

With just one, not so bad, but because you can control how thick or thin you want it you can make it warmer or cooler.

[susanrm]

I like it! Great idea. The one thing I would say is that the first photo confused me because of the edge effects on the photo, making it look like the fabric was frayed. I thought that was how it was going to end up looking.

[iamkeebler]

lol... sorry about that. I use the same pics on my blog so ya, they have that photo edge on them. I'll keep that in mind next time I post an instructable though!

[susanrm]

What do you use to make/edit them? Other than that, it's a cool effect.

[iamkeebler]

I do a variety of things. If I have the time I'll use my Paint Shop Pro program. Or if I'm lazy I use this site: http://www.phixr.com/ It does pretty much the same thing as my photo editing program, just can't get quite as detailed with it. But the website is what I did to edit these photos.

[Penolopy Bulnick]

Very cute idea!