How to Turn an Old T Shirt into a Reusable Tote Bag

Here is a great project if you have an over abundance of tee shirts, a need for reusable tote bags, and desire to help make the Earth a greener place to live.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• old tee shirt
• scissors
• sewing machine
• pencil or chalk
• round template
• straight pins (optional)

1. 
    

   Lay your tee shirt flat on a table, or the floor.

2. 
    

   Cut the sleeves off of the shirt on the "sleeve side" of the seam. By leaving the seam attached to the bag, the handle will be reinforced.

3. 
    

   Take your round template (I use a plate), and lay it on the neckline of the shirt.

4. 
    

   Mark, with a pencil, where the template sits on the shirt. This is where you will be cutting the opening of the tote.

5. You are finished cutting. Now you need to turn the shirt inside out.

6. 
    

   Match the bottom front edge to the bottom back edge. Pin. Run a straight stitch along the bottom edge, I usually follow the hemline.

7. 
    

   Turn right side out, and you have made an ecologically friendly reusable tote bag!

Tips & Warnings

• When laying your template onto the shirt, take into consideration the placement of the template in relation to the image on the shirt.
• Don't forget to back stitch the beginning and end of the stitch.
• You might even want to stitch the bottom twice to make the seam strong.

[pattycakes934]

on 7/29/2009 Love it great Idea.

[ceholmes]

on 7/29/2009 very good idea, you can go green with this idea too :) 5* and recm

[koolbeanz]

on 7/28/2009 cincin1 - Thanks for the comment, 5 stars and recommendation!! This is fun!

[koolbeanz]

on 7/28/2009 Zirconia - My first thought was to reinforce the the main opening also. I created this activity for 41 GS Daisies, Brownies and Juniors. Needed to keep it simple.

[cincin1]

on 7/28/2009 Great idea! I have a lot of running t-shirts from various races -- will turn a few of them into totes for give a ways at races. Thanks for the great idea. 5* and a recommend.