The ombré effect is in now. It's the French word for gradual change in color, whether light to dark or throughout different hues. A tye-dye tee would accommodate this trend perfectly. But instead of just wearing the shirt, I wanted to create something out of it. Inspired by late summer parties and the garlands of mexican fiestas, I created a miniature bunting-esque garland, and finished it off with vintage buttons to make a super-soft, super-colorful, and super-fun necklace!
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Above is my rainbow tye-dye bunting necklace. For this tutorial, I also used a tye-dye shirt, but one with variegated blues. Feel free to use any old tee you have, and even mix tees and colors if you want. A fully customizable accessory!
Let's get on with the directions!
Step 1: Gather materials. An old tee, scissors, glue, a ruler, cotton thread, two crimps, a vintage button (can be with shank or without), a toothpick, and of course pliers.
Step 2: Cut off the sleeves of your shirt (that's all you'll need!). Then, cut the seam so you have two flat pieces of fabric.
Step 3: Time to make the triangles. Fold the piece of fabric, with the folded side towards you. Cut out an equilateral triangle, about 1.5 cm. long (you can alter this size, though, depending on how big you want your "charms"). To make sure your triangles are all the same size, lay the cut triangle on top, and use it like a stencil. Cut another triangle, following the first one. Make sure the bottom of the triangle is always along the fold, so if you open up the little fabric triangle you will have a diamond.
Step 4: Here are all my triangles. I used 18 all together, to make a necklace about 18" long. Cut more or less depending on the size of your triangles and the size you want your necklace. As you can see, I have diamond cut-outs all along my fabric. I was trying to get a nice balance of colors, light and dark, and subtle patterns. I wanted to get the best parts of the fabric in the little triangles! If you are using solid fabric, you don't have to worry about that!
Step 5: Attach the fabric to the thread. About 1" to 2" from the end of your thread, that's where you want to start. Take your toothpick, put a line of glue along the middle of a flattened fabric triangle (now diamond). Take another small smear of glue with your toothpick, and smear the glue at the bottom of the diamond, making sure you get some glue on the tip. Lay the thread across the middle, through the line of glue. Press down, fold the top flap over and onto the bottom, pressing down and rubbing gently to attach and have the glue stick.
Step 6: Continue this process, spacing the triangles about 1.5 cm. apart. Keep adding until you get about 2" from the other end of the thread. If you are using tye-dye fabric, make sure you space out lights and darks evenly for a good variation in color.
Step 7: Finishing. Add a crimp to one end of the thread. Loop the thread around and back through the crimp, leaving enough of a loop for your button to snugly pass through. Crimp shut and cut. For the other side, add a crimp, then the button, and loop back through the crimp. Pull snug up until the fabric triangle. Crimp shut and cut. If you are using a regular button with holes, just add the thread through one hole and loop it back through the other, then the crimp.
The finished product! See how nice of a closure the button makes? I chose a similar hued button for color similarity, but you could choose any color you like (or just use what you have!) Another cool effect is to use the complimentary color of your triangles. Blue and orange, yellow and purple, red and green. It will give a cool pop of color. Try it out!
My rainbow bunting necklace. My mom stole my blue one above before I could take a picture. I guess she liked it a lot!
This project is an awesome way to recycle something that would have been thrown away. Save the rest of your tee to make something else, or more baby bunting necklaces!
If you share/use/post this tutorial, please link back to me. It is much appreciated!
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