Turning Old T-Shirts into Reusable Bags

I don't know about you, but I have never realized how many t-shirts I have that I never wear. Every year that I am involved in clubs, organizations, or events, I get more and more shirts. They make for great memories and comfy clothes for a lazy day but O.M.G. they take up so much space over time!!

My recent goal has been to determine which of my shirts that I actually need to keep, and which ones I will probably never wear again. This led to my DIY reusable bag project!

The bags that are no sew & took less than 5 steps!

I am going to use these bags for when I go to the farmers market or even the grocery store. Some grocery stores give a little money off for bringing in your own bags & we LOVE saving money.

Personally, I chose t-shirts with the same color scheme as my apartment living room & kitchen so they can hang by the door, but you can use any shirts!

Start out by cutting off the sleeves & the collar off

of the shirt. I cut right outside of the seams on the shirt to allow the handles to loosen up as I use it.

If you are using larger shirts, try to cut close to the sleeve otherwise your handles will end up really long, and it will take away from your bag space.

As far as shirt size goes, I used a mix of small- 3xl and they all worked well! It just depends of how your want your bags to look.

Then cut the bottom into strips that are about 1 inch

thick and 2 inches long. When doing this, make sure the bottom of the shirt is lined up to ensure that you are cutting generally even amounts on both sides.

--If you have ever made a tied blanket, this is the same concept--

When cutting the strips, I left the bottom strips in tack because I wanted to preserve as much length as possible, but it can be removed as well if you do not like how it looks.

Determine what look you are going for before you

continue on to the next step! There are a couple things to decide on.

First, do you want the ties on the inside or outside of the bag? When on the inside, the bag will have a more sleek look from the outside, but on the outside, it will have more texture and look fun. This determines whether or not you are going to flip your bag inside out or not after completing it.

& second, do you want your designs on the inside or the outside of your bag? Knowing this is advance will help you ensure that the design is on the right side when you begin tying. Here are how the combinations should look when you start the next step:

Outside Ties & Outside Design: make sure design is on the outside before tying

Outside Ties & Inside Design: make sure design is on the inside before tying

Inside Ties & Outside Design: make sure design in on the inside before tying

Inside Ties & Inside Design: make sure design is on the outside before tying

I decided to make my bags with inside ties & inside design to give them a sleek look in my kitchen & living area!

Seal the bag by tying the corresponding strips

with one another. Tying them twice will help to ensure that they do not open up over time or when heavy items are placed in the bags.

I personally found that when tied really tight, the pieces started to overlap & sometimes get tied together. Because I decided to keep my ties on the inside of the bag, it did not matter what they looked like as much.

When tying, I recommend not pulling the knots apart to create a straight bottom. If this is done, it will create

gaps in between the ties that you may not want later on.

Finalize your bag & test it out next time you shop!

I love these bags already. They can be used for the store, but they can also be used as every day bags, beach bags, or anything else!

They are super easy to wash because they are just old shirts & if you lose or damage them, it is not the biggest deal because there are always more t-shirts to go around.

My Recommendations:

I touched on some these throughout the posts, but to recap...

• Small & Medium shirts make for the best sized bags

• Cut close to the sleeves & collar to save bag space

• Be careful not cut the "handles" too thin otherwise they can stretch & tear

• Cut strips about 1 inch thick & 2 inches long

• If strips are too thick, they are harder to tie

• Plan what the bags will look like prior to tying

My final & favorite recommendation is do all of the cutting first, and then go sit in bed or on the couch and watch a movie while doing all of the tying!

It makes it much more fun :)

I hope this will be super helpful to use up some of those unused shirts!