Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Old T-Shirt Turned Reusable Grocery Bag

     So, when the seasons roll around, it's time to clean out the closet and make way for the clothes of new weather. I usually take this time to get rid of clothes I haven't worn in at least a year and put them in a bag labeled "goodwill". But then I thought, instead of giving away my old t shirts, why not try and figure out a way to reuse them. Here is the result! An awesome grocery bag made from an old shirt.


For this bag, I started out with an awesome Doors t shirt that I found at the thrift store for $2.99. What a deal and what a cool bag it's gonna make! Yeah, I know I said I use the t shirts from my closet, and I do, but I just happened to have this one laying around after a recent thrift store binge.
 1.) First, cut off the bottom of the shirt at the seam. Lay the shirt flat, line up the seams, and pin the ends together.
 2.) Cut the corners off of both sides of the bottom of the shirt and pin. This will make the bottom of the bag more rounded and "bag like". With a serger, serge the bottom of the shirt together.
 3.) You now need to make the handles of your bag. Cut the sleeves of the shirt off. Every hillbilly will tell you to stop here because it's perfect. Don't believe them and continue on to step 4.
     P.S. I pinned the bottom of the sleeve hole up a little bit and sewed it back together because the hole was a bit too big.
 4.) Fold the outside of the sleeve up about a quarter of an inch and pin. Serge along the outside of the sleeve where you have pinned.
 5.)Next, you will need to make the opening of the bag. To do this you will need to cut out the collar of the shirt. Cut a little bit past the collar if it is a shirt with a higher neck. Remember, you want to have a big enough hole in order to put your groceries in easily. Serge around the edge in order to make it look nice and pretty.
     And there ya have it! Your very own, homemade grocery bag. The good thing about this project is that you not only are helping the environment by reusing an old shirt but you are also helping the environment by using less grocery bags. Go you!

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