01 : June : 2011 : Blog a la Cart

June 1, 2011

Finger Woven T-shirt Necklace

Welp, it’s officially summer. With the humidity and burning sun, I feel more than secure making such a pronouncement. The rising temperatures have got me contemplating the future months of third trimester pregnancy and the clothing I’ll be wearing to get me through with as much comfort and coolness as possible in such a state, during such a time of year. Thus, my wardrobe will primarily consist of cotton maxi dresses, and white t-shirts paired with leggings. Classy, I know.

Accessories will be key to keeping such ensembles fresh, so I decided to dive into the stack of old t-shirts I have piled in my crafting trunk and whip up some new duds to rock around my neck.

Note: I just can’t ditch old t-shirts, even if I’m never going to wear them again, so crafting material they become. And yes, there is a designated crafting trunk in my household. Naturally.

I turned the t-shirts into yarn, as I’ve done previously, and wound back the clock to a time when I used to finger weave jewelry as a kid. It was a quick and easy afternoon activity and the resulting necklaces add a little something something to my look, if I do say so myself. Also, I won’t be devastated if these wind up coated in infant spit-up come August. A very likely possibility.

Materials:
T-shirt(s) (with no seams along the sides)
Scissors
Fingers

Directions:
1. Start by folding a t-shirt in half length wise. Cut off the bottom seam of the t-shirt and cut just below the armpits of the shirt. You’ll be left with a tube of t-shirt materials.

2. To create a seamless thread of t-shirt yarn, begin cutting at one end of the tube, about 1 inch in width. Cut in a circular fashion to create continuous strip of material.

3. Once you have your yarn prepared, you’re ready to begin finger weaving! Start with a small tail draped against your thumb down the front of your palm. Then weave behind your pointer finger and in front of your middle finger. Then loop back, behind your middle finger and in front of your pointer finger.

4. Come around from behind to make a big loop in front of both the middle and pointer finger. Then pull the yarn woven below the big loop up and over the loop on first the middle finger.

5. The pull the yarn up and over the loop on the pointer finger. Pull the strand to tighten. Now make another big loop, and again pull the strands below on the middle finger and pointer finger up and over the loop.

6. Continue in this fashion to grow your chain.

7. Once the chain is the desired length (I made mine long enough to easily make into a necklace that I could slide over my head). remove the two loops from your fingers carefully, and thread the end of the strand through the loops, pulling to secure.