During the cold months, I'm pretty much always seen with a scarf around my neck. Over the past couple months, I've pinned a few of these upcycled tshirt scarves, and this week, I finally decided to make my own.
My vision for this scarf evolved as I began cutting the strips of fabric: two of the colors I wanted to use didn't curl up after cutting like I had hoped they would. I started experimenting with knotting and braiding and ended up with this. I must say, I'm pleased as punch. And my neck is nice and cozy warm.
Here's how I made it:
materials
~ an assortment of t-shirts (I used a variety of sizes, some women's, some men's) - my finished scarf was made with 27 strips of fabric - and, I used about 4 strips for each braided piece (3 to braid, one to make the braid into a loop), and 3 for each knotted piece (2 for knots, one to make the knotted piece into a loop) - the more strips you cut, the fuller your scarf will be {obviously!} ;)
~ scissors
~ a cutting mat, rotary cutter, and ruler (optional, but this is the route I took)
~safety pin
the process
lay your shirt out flat
cut off the bottom hem
use your scissors or rotary cutter to cut 1-inch strips of your t-shirt. you should end up with a number of "rings" or large circles of fabric.
I stuck with 1-inch strips for my scarf, but it would be fun to experiment with different width strips.
for the braiding, gather three strips, cut out the t-shirt side seam on ONE side so that you are left with three long strips.
tie a knot in one end of your bunch.
attach the knot to something to give yourself some tension for braiding. here i am using a hook in my studio that normally holds my shears, but I also used a safety pin and pinned the braid to my pants.
tie a knot at the end of the braid to secure it.
for the knotted strips, I just cut the seams out of ONE side of my strip again (see photo above) so that I was left with another long strip. for a couple of the strips, I randomly tied a knot along the length of the strip. for a few more, I tied knots one right after the other. when i got to the end of the length, I just tied another strip on and continued knotting.
after you've finished all of your braiding and knotting, it's time to make those strips into loops.
for the braided strips, I untied the knot at one end and tied the three strands to one a piece of a leftover fabric strip. I then hung that around my neck to determine the length I wanted that strand to be, untied the knot at the other end of the braid, and reknotted it with the single strand. I did this to reduce the bulk of the knots on those braided strips.
I followed the same process with the knotted strips.
My goal here was to have the loops of the scarf end up in a bunch of different lengths. This was accomplished through using different sized t-shirts and measuring/adusting the length of the knotted and braided loops.
after you have all of your loops, gather and arrange them. I gathered them so that one of the side seams was in my hand (the other hanging down). I fiddled with them some so that the braided strands, knotted strands, and straight strands were all mingled together, and so that the varying lengths seemed to hang together nicely.
take another length of fabric (with the side seam cut out, leaving one long length) and wrap it around the group of loops. center this piece so that you have two equal lenghts on each side of the grouping. tie a knot here to secure the loops.
once that is secure, wrap that length around the grouping until you're just left with a little - enough to make a knot. make sure to wrap the two strands in different directions so that they meet to make your end knot.
once you have wrapped the lengths, tie a knot to secure.
and you're finished! you can wear your lovely scarf long or looped around close to your neck. the stretch of the jersey knit makes it easy to loop it around.
enjoy your cozy warm neck!
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