Sunday, February 19, 2012

braided neckline tutorial


i was actually inspired to make this tutorial when i saw someone on pinterest post a tutorial about a banana republic shirt-unfortunately they couldn't figure out how to make the neckline so the tutorial was basically sewing a braid to the neckline.  but i'm pretty sure this how BR actually made the neckline-isn't it funny that i'm actually using a BR shirt for this tutorial??

so here's the inspiration:


you'll need:
-liquid stitch-or some other fabric glue-this will help the hole from fraying or stretching excessively
-scissors
-old shirt (make sure it's pretty long because you'll be cutting strips from the bottom)

and the how:

1.  first start by putting a dot of liquid stitch down around the neckline about 1-2" apart.  then cut 3 strips from the bottom of your shirt about 1/2-1" thick.  it's okay if they're on the thin side because you'll be doubling them anyway.  stretch the strips out a little bit-it's basically the same process as all those t-shirt bracelet/headband/necklace/millions of other accessories tutorials.  once your glue has dried, cut a small hole in each dot.  you can make them pretty small because they'll stretch out later and you def don't want them to be too big.  i just made tiny little snips with the tips of scissors.
2.  then tie a knot in the end of your 't-shirt yarn'.  starting at one side, pull the yarn all the way through the first hole.
3.  then take the end and pull it back through the same hole but not completely-leave a small loop.
4.  thread the yarn up through the next hole and through the loop you made previously.
5.  again, don't pull the thread all the way through-leave a small loop.
6.  thread the yarn through the next hole and through the loop.  and keep going all around the neckline.
7.  when you come to the end, instead of leaving a loop, just pull the yarn all the way through and it should keep the last loop secure.

and that's it!!  i really like the look of doubling up the t-shirt yarn, unfortunately cutting that much off the bottom makes the shirt borderline too short for me to wear...then again i have unusually large breasts for an asian girl, combine that with the long asian torso and i usually need pretty long shirts.

if you have 2 shirts that are similar colors you could cut up one for the yarn and have a contrasting neckline-you could use the rest of the yarn for other t-shirt  yarn accessories.

21 comments:

  1. love this!! will deffintly have to try it :)

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  2. This looks great, but I'm a bit confused. You said to cut 3 strips, but that they will be doubled. Do you hold 2 stips together to do this, if so, what happens to the 3rd? Are the 3 strips sewed together? Am I just confused?

    Thank you for this tutorial, I look forward to trying it.

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    1. hello

      so when you cut the strips off the bottom, you end up with a giant loop. instead of cutting one of the seams to get one really long strip, just leave it as a loop and use that to make the braid. that way it's technically one piece of material but it looks like two. i hope that makes sense and good luck!!

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    2. So the way I am reading this, is you will end up with 3 sets of loops, (the three strips) making really six actual strands, yes?

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    3. yep-the main thing is to double the strands. when i tried it using a single strand at a time it looked too thin.

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  3. Love this look! What a fun tutorial! Will have to try this SOON! Going to find an old tee-shirt right now!

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  4. What a great tutorial.. Lovely x

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  5. I have the actual braided BR shirt and I've seen that other post with the braid sewn directly to the collar of a shirt. This is exactly how the decoration is added on the real shirt. Great work.

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  6. Very cool. Gonna try it. I was thinking as I looked at it that it might be cute to put a small grommet for each hole and weave in and out of that? Or maybe just the first and last holes on the outside....hmmm....inspired now. Thanks for the tutorial!

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    1. i was actually really wishing i had leftover 'thread' to tie a bow in the back-the grommet idea would be perfect for that!!

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  7. Great idea! Do you just leave the hem of the shirt unfinished then? or do you sew it back up?

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    1. hello

      i left the hem unfinished because i didn't want it to end up being too short.

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  8. I love this :) idea for the two tone braid use a different shirt to make the braids and continue as directed :)

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  9. I guess it's just me, but this is SO confusing. You cut three strips off the bottom of the tee shirt so you basically have three loops. So what are you tieing at the end. Where does the tie end up?? And the first one you go thru and almost all the way back thru.... couldn't you just go a little way in from the back side?? And if you're working with loops from the bottom of the shirt why would you need to make a loop??? and if you are working with 3 loops do you attach the other two somewhere??

    Like I said, really confused. Can someone help me??

    My email is contactanastasia@yahoo.com

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    1. Hi

      Sorry for all the confusion! Okay, so yes you cut 3 strips from the bottom of your shirt making 3 loops. But then you connect all 3 loops (tying a knot, sewing, etc) so that you have one long piece of t-shirt rope.

      As far as the actual 'technique', it is basically a chain stitch that goes along the neckline. You can find a tutorial on how to do this with a needle and thread here:
      http://sewing.about.com/od/beginner1/ss/chainstitch_4.htm

      And yes you could just pull a small amount up from the back side but you would likely end up stretching out the hole in your t-shirt which is why I pulled it all the way through and back again.

      Hope this helps and let me know if you have any more questions!!

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  10. I just found this a few days ago while on a trip down the internet rabbit hole for something else. While I never saw the original BR shirt, I have the perfect rayon/spandex t-shirt hanging in my closet that needs gussied up. I just finished a test run on some similar fabric I had laying around the house. I fly fish and found another use for the hemastats. I used them to pull up the small loop from the back side. Works perfect without stretching the hole. My test sample worked great. I look forward to doing my shirt tomorrow. Thanks for your photos and tutorial.

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  11. This is genius! Thanks for the tutorial. I'm definitely going to have to try this one!

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  12. I will admit that I was skeptical at how easy this seemed - usually my version ends up a mess - but it is so cute! Thanks for the tutorial!

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