T-Shirt Bags

A few weeks ago, my friend gave me a bunch of her son's old t-shirts.  I've been wearing a couple of the ones that don't have 'gamer' stuff on them or skulls.  But I knew Tommy couldn't wear them for years.  So I decided to upcycle them.  I made a bag for both Tommy and his friend Makayla.  I found this idea originally on Pinterest, which led to to this tutorial on Chiquita Moms.  It's so easy!  You gotta make one!

You'll need an old t-shirt or two, some pins, scissors and your sewing machine.  (Although one of them is NO sew!  Whoo hoo!)

We'll do the one you sew first.  Start by cutting off the arms of the t-shirt.  I decided to cut outside the line of sewing, leaving the seam in tact.  I figured it would be stronger that way.  Save the arm fabric for rags.

Now cut out the neckline.  I decided to do this one in a half circle shape.

Turn the shirt inside-out, match up the bottom seams and pin.

Sew the bottom shut.  I intended on sewing about 5/8" in and 1/4" in, but my sewing machine was making the strangest LOUD noise!  So I only sewed the one line.

Turn it right-side out again and you have your bag!  How simple was that?!?  The bag shown has a very large bath towel in it and it doesn't even fill the bag 2/3 of the way.  This shirt was a Large, I believe, and it holds a lot!  This would make a really simple trick-or-treat bag, now that I think about it!  The next day, I decided to add gussets to the bottom of the bag.  I like it much better now.

And now for the no-sew bag.  Same process at first.  Cut off the arms.  Yes, this one is for Makayla, lol.   She's not a real girly-girl, so this was right up her alley.

Then cut out the neckline.  This one has the graphic up so high, I decided to cut it differently, getting as close as I could to the skull.  I'm not fond of the look of the cut, but it worked well.

Then line up the bottom edges of the t-shirt and cut 1" strips all the way across.  The strips are probably about 4" long.

Tie each front strip to each coordinating back strip.  I tugged on each strip while doing this to a)make the knot tight and b) to stretch out the strip to make it curl in on itself.

Here's what it looks like when you're done.

I decided it needed a little element of girly, so I added a pink bow.  I used a tiny safety pin on the inside to attach it.  That way, when they wash it, it can be removed so it doesn't get ruined.

Makayla loved her bag!  At first, she thought it was a shirt with fringe on the bottom, but was equally excited when she found out it was a bag.

I love how stretchy these are.   You can just hang them on the doorknob or throw it over your arm like a big handbag.  You can also cut a bunch of slits in the bag, stretch them out (the slits), and it makes a great beach bag!  They hold soooo much and are extremely lightweight.  You can just fold it up when not in use.  I'm going to try to find some cuter t-shirts at a garage sale or thrift store and maybe make some of my own shopping bags.  Try one for yourself and tell me how it turns out!

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