Tutorial: 5-Strand Braided Bracelet

I love finding ways to refashion old articles I no longer use/wear anymore!  This is just one more way to be thrifty!  Like most of you, I'm guessing, I have lots of old T-shirts that I hardly ever use.  I have stored most of them away as work shirts, but let's face it, how many work shirts do I really need?!  So I've decided to use them for something a little more fun!  These 5-stand braided bracelets are made from a few of my old T-shirts! This style is really trendy right now, but rather than buy them at a store for ridiculous amounts of money, you could totally make them yourself!

Take an old T-shirt and cut strips 1-2 inches wide.

(Notice how wrinkly this shirt is from being shoved together with all my other work clothes.  Good News!  It doesn't matter how wrinkly your shirt is for this project!)

Next, take 5 strips of T-shirt, and hand stitch them together.

Stretch each peice of fabric so it looks more like this.  Then tape down the sewn part down (or you can do what I  normally do, and just hold it with your foot!)

Now you are ready to start braiding!

5-strand braiding is pretty simple.  Basically you are going to be doing a typical 3-strand braid, but on both sides.  Follow the steps below!

1. Notice how the strands are separated with three on the left side, and two on the right.  Do this, and then pick up the farthest strand on the left.

2. Take the farthest strand to the left (the one you just picked up), and cross it over the strand immediately right of it.

3. Just as if you were going to do a 3-strand braid, take the middle strand (or the strand farthest to the right of your set of 3 on the left), and cross over the strand to the immediate left.

4. Now separate your strands, but now you should put three on the right and two on the left.

5. You will do the exact same thing on the other side.  VERY IMPORTANT:  No matter what side you are braiding on, always start with the outside strand first!  So whereas you started with the farthest stand to the left last time, this time you will start with the farthest strand to the right.  Cross this strand over the strand immediately to the left.

6.  Cross the middle strand over the strand immediately to the right. Once you have separated your strands (3 on the left and 2 on the right again), you are ready to start from the beginning!

You might have to read through these directions a couple times to get it, but after that you will be braiding with 5-strands just as easy as 3!  I promise! :)

Once your braid is as long as you want it, stitch the other end.  Remember the T-shirt material will stretch, so keep that in mind when you are determining the length.  My shirts usually gave me 1-2 bracelets depending on the stretchiness!  Also, you are not limited to bracelets!  You can make headbands, belts, anklets, etc.!

Now you can stitch the two ends together.

Next, cut some of the T-shirt into a small rectangle.  You will use a glue gun to fold in, and secure the edges.

Now wrap the piece of material around the portion of the bracelet that is sewn together.

Yeah!  You have a super cute braided bracelet!

 Isn't this so fun!  I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! I plan to have more like this in the future! :)

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