I saw it on Pinterest: Making a T-Shirt Bag

So far in my Pinterest adventures, I’ve tackled a braided bun, made some fire starters and tried to unclog a sink drain.

For today’s post, I decided to follow this pin’s instructions to make an old t-shirt into a grocery bag without using my sewing machine. I like the idea of upcycling a t-shirt that was no longer being worn into something useful. Also, I know a lot of people don’t know how to sew, so I thought it would be fun to try a ‘no-sew’ version to show you all if it was actually easy to do!

Here’s the shirt I started with… super old cotton shirt from Loft. I know it looks kind of cute in this picture and you are wondering why I decided to cut it apart, but in real life it definitely looks like it’s been worn about 10,000 times.

Following the steps on the pin, I sliced off the neckline and sleeves.

Then, I used one of the black stripes for measuring and cut the hem in little strips.

To tie the fringe, I flipped the shirt inside out and then started at one side and just tied each pair of strips (one from the front and one from the back) into a knot. Then, I moved onto the next two strips. When I got to the end, I just flipped it around and tied each coupled knot to the one next to it. It sounds harder than it was.

I then stretched the handles out a little with my hands and flipped the shirt back to the right way (so the fringe lives inside, instead of being seen).

Super cute, right? And it really WAS as easy as it looked in the pin. Oh wait, you want to see how much this little bag can actually hold? Well, here….

Pretty darn useful, too!

I could see this as being a really good ‘keep busy’ summer project for a kid or teenager. It really isn’t hard at all, as long as you are careful not to slice a finger open with the scissors. I think this could be a great use for those ‘brand’ t-shirts that we end up getting for free! The best part is that you keep a few in your trunk for groceries and just throw them in the washing machine when they get a little icky!

Have you tried making a bag from an old t-shirt? Did it work well for you?