Ahhh…summer. Time to put away the jeans and tennis shoes, grab swim suits and flip flops and hit the pool to beat the heat! Want to give your girl a little extra style at the pool or beach this summer? Give this DIY Girl’s Beaded Beach Cover-up a try!
My daughter practically lives at the pool during the summer months, so I thought it would be fun to take a t-shirt that she is starting to outgrow and repurpose it into a cute and fun Cover-Up! It honestly turned out so much cuter than I anticipated, and I’m so happy to share it with you all!
To make your own, grab the following:
- An old t-shirt
- Pony beads
- Scissors and/or rotary cutter
- A loose-fitting tank top (not pictured) to be used as a template
- Sharpie marker (not pictured)
- Ribbon (optional, not pictured)
Start by cutting the bottom hem off of the t-shirt, all the way around.
Using either a rotary cutter and self-healing cutting mat, or just a pair of scissors, cut strips in the t-shirt from the bottom hem up, roughly 5″ long.
Cut strips all the way around the t-shirt. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but try to make them as uniform as possible.
Once your strips are cut, simply hold the shirt steady with one hand, and pull each strip with the other hand. Pull gently until the strips curl into themselves, as shown above.
Next, grab a loose-fitting tank top to use as a template and lay across the top of the t-shirt.
Using a Sharpie marker, trace the outline of the arm holes onto the t-shirt. This will show you where to cut.
Cut the sleeves off of the t-shirt, following the lines you just drew.
Next, place the t-shirt inside the tank top, and again use it as a template. You will draw lines with a Sharpie marker and cut both the front and back of the t-shirt.
Once cut, your t-shirt should now look like a tank top. Now it’s time to decorate!
Here’s a tip: To easily add pony beads to the strips cut into your t-shirt, use a flat-head needle. Simply insert the needle into the bottom edge of the strip, slide the beads over, remove the needle, and knot the strip.
Continue until you have added as many beads as you want.
Grab a fun summer ribbon and add bows to each shoulder.
All done! Here is a close-up of the beads added to the t-shirt. I also braided the strips along each side of the t-shirt and added beads to the bottom of the braid.
A cute orange polka-dot bow added to each shoulder adds a fun touch, don’t you think?
And done! Now Marley has a cute summer bathing suit cover-up! She can also slide this over a fitted tank and pair it with some shorts for a fun summer outfit!
She liked this one so much that she wants me to make more. I love when a project turns out successfully!
What do you make with old t-shirts?
2 Responses
That is a very smart idea!
How sweet! This reminds me of going to Myrtle Beach as kid. We’d always buy souvenir t-shirts and the thing to do was to cut them in decorative ways exactly like this. We paid people to do it for us! Can’t wait for all of those glitter rainbow decal shirts to come back… 😉
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