Tutorial time! I got a gig teaching a recycled t-shirt project at the library a few months ago, with a request for a recycled tee bag – the only bags I’d made from tees in the past had required sturdy sewing, and I didn’t want hand-sewing to be the only thing holding the bottom closed in a class version of the bags, so I started brainstorming about some kind of hand-sewing-friendly or no-sew bag idea…. and here’s what I came up with!
The simplest version of these bags is great for smaller tees, or the more light-weight kind of girl-tees – just turn the bottom of the shirt into a drawstring and tie it closed! As you can see, even with a not huge tee, this will still leave a significant hole in the bottom of your bag, but for purposes like grocery shopping, this size hole shouldn’t really matter…
But to make smaller holes, just make more than one of them! Here’s a bag bottom with 2 holes:
And now for the actual tutorial – for this one, with the step-by-step, I will be making the bottom with 3 holes. So, start with a t-shirt that you don’t wear anymore, or a fun one you found at a thrift store. Besides a tee, you’ll also need scissors and a safety pin. That’s it!
Cut the sleeves off, but try to make a somewhat straight line, and go in a bit from the seam – these lines will be the sides of your straps:
Cut some strips from those sleeve pieces – about half an inch wide, the length of one time around a sleeve is good, and as many strips as the number of holes you’ll be making in your bag bottom. (I’ve made bags with 1, 2, and 3 holes, but I haven’t tried more than that.) Pull the ends of the strips to stretch them out and make them curl in:
Cut the neck out to become your bag’s opening – the way you cut this can depend on your tee’s picture (if there is a picture), and also the shape you want your bag. Just make sure you cut a big enough opening to fit things through, for a functional bag:
You could make it rounded, V-shaped, or squared like this one:
Now the top/straps part is done, time for the bottom. Snip slits in the hem part of the tee bottom – as many slits as you want holes. 3 slits, below, is for 3 holes, for a single hole, like the yellow one at the top, just cut one slit, and for 2 holes, snip 2 slits. The slits should be equally spaced from each other, but the spacing doesn’t need to be exact – I just eyeballed my slit placement, no measuring:
Now stick a safety pin through the end of one of those strips you made, and start running it through the hem, through one of the slits:
Run it through to the next slit (or all the way around and back to the beginning, if you’re making a single hole) and pull the cord so it’s centered-ish:
Tie the hole closed as tightly as you can, and tie a tight knot:
Now repeat those steps for the remaining sections, one slit to the next, tie tightly. This is after the second hole is closed:
For an ultra sturdy bag bottom, tie one cord strand from one hole together with one strand from the hole next to it, tightly, and repeat for each strand (as many of these knots as the number of holes you have; ignore this step if you’re making a single hole), so that the holes are all tied to each other.
Now, you can choose whether you want the t-shirt cord ties hanging down at the bottom, or hidden on the inside. To hide them inside, bring them through the center, then tie bows on the inside so they don’t fall back through. Or, tie bows on the outside if you prefer (or you could just cut the cords short and skip the bows):
My finished Sonic bag!
The 1-hole version of this project takes more like 5 minutes, but the more holes you have, the longer it takes (by a few minutes) – it’s my favorite kind of project: 100% recycled materials (in this case, just the tee and nothing else!), minimal tools, quick+easy, and a super useful finished product!
I made these for everyone in my family as extra bonus xmas gifts – my mom just told me she’s been using hers all the time and they are stronger than she would have expected. I even used my family’s bags to wrap their gifts in, to save on paper wrapping waste and because it looked fun!
I failed to show you this idea before the holidays, but you can always save it away in your memory (or bookmarks) for your next gift-giving occasion. I hope you love this project as much as I do! Now go and make lots of them so you’ll never be without a reusable shopping bag again!
Lee Does Stuff 
Good idea ! I can do it as well as my old clothes definitely can do such a simple recycle bags.Thanks !
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awesome!! thanks for sharing!
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Cute ideal.
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Love this.
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Love this
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love love LOVE
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This is really neat!
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MAAAN that was a nice t-shirt !
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yeah man… so nice shirt to just cut and used to some other staff.. many people in this world that needs our help .. (i am thinking about giving good shirt to poor people)
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post a picture of somebody wearing it!
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great idea i must copy you and try formyself!
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WOW!
I love love loved this craft.
Thank you so much for sharing!!
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Awesome idea! I may try this!
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very nice iam heading to my son’s t shirts
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I tried this last week and I used my old fourth grade class t-shirt and at first everyone asked where I got my bag, and I told them I made it, so the looked again and saw that it was the 4th grade shirt and they all asked me to make them one! Thank you so much!
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This is really cool. The only thing i dont get is why recycle a perfecly good sonic the hedgehog t-shirt. but its a really good idea
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these are awesome. i am going to use this outline to make some bags to sell as a breast cancer fundraiser. i found that if you make 2 slots one on each seam of the shirt and then thread one string through it but criss crossing in the middle you can tie the string throught he inside of the bag so then it is hidden and there isn’t hardly any whole at all. LOVE THIS IDEA
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How much did you charge for a bag? I think our Scouts could do this as a fundraiser too!
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Thank you so much for sharing this!! 🙂 I’ve been trying to figure out a way to turn old shirts into shoulder bags without a sewing machine for so long now!
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I teach Familly and Consumer Science class and we are doing this Tuesday. Thanks!
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My thoughts exactly for the upcoming school year. Great lesson on going green and it’s no-sew! Love it
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these look sooo neat! i’m definatley going to my thrift shop to find some cool tee shirts to make these! thanks for sharing!! 🙂
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Excellent ideas! Thanks for the info and the way to reuse the old T’s.
http://jetta-broom.blogspot.com
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absolutly awesome idea, cheers!
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this is soooo cool! just made my first prototype… hopefully, i’ll be making loads more when i get equipped with the steps… amazing discovery!
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This is an awsome tip for recycling thanks!
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Great post! I’ve made two now and linked your page to my blog with my own pictures. Thanks again! Great project.
http://keeleymcguire.blogspot.com/
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Hey Lee…I saw this this morning…and I thought it was absolutely awesome! My son has a ton of band t-shirts that he’s outgrown, so (with permission) I raided his stash. I’ve made two so far….awesome idea! Thank you so much!
Kate
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Wow that’s an amazing idea, thanks for sharing it! 🙂
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just made this in like 3 mins after finding it on stumble upon. Great idea!
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How clever….Thank you so much for sharing your fabulous idea.I just made one out of a Violent Femmes T shirt from my twenties that is too small but I just can’t seem to throw away.I love it…
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AMAZING!! i love it! finally an amazingly thrifty use for those cute shirts i never wanna get rid of!
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Very smart reusing.
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This is awesome! I just made this bag after finding this page on stumbleupon. What a fun and easy craft.
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This is really awesome, as are you. thank you so much for this! i’ve already made threee!
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I just made one and it was so simple and quick! Can’t wait to make one for each of the kids for our trips to the lake!
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Absolutely love your concept. Green, practical and fun
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Idea!! Put elastic through the bottom so the hole is a bit bigger and stuff plastic bags in the top and use the handles to hang it and you’ve got yourself a way to store those plastic bags to reuse (my plastic bags are mostly used to deposit scooped kitty litter in that is headed to the trash can)
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I found you on Pinterest.com. LOVE this project! I first tried it with a shirt that was waaaay to big for me (2x) and it would be perfect for a beach bag.
I’ve also tried it with 2t girl shirts and they make a great little purse for my daughter.
Awesome idea! Thanks!
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I love great ideas. The simpler it is the more it is appreciated. Kudos on this one!!!
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Cute idea. I’ve made plenty of bags, normally with old jeans, but this is a great way to salvage favorite Ts I don’t wear any more. One question- do the straps hold up fairly well without any heming? I’m a bit of a sewer, so leaving raw edges makes me nervous!
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t-shirt fabric does pretty darn well with no hem, but if it’s easy for you to hem it up, it will probably look better for much longer with a hem. It won’t exactly fray without one, but it will get a little worn looking after time, use, stretching.
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I have a harder time with the seams ripping out of the tee shirt bags becahse the fabirc moves so well. Give it a nice tug so it curls and you should be fine.
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i did made with 4 holes i really like it
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This project is a perfect solution to my Junior Girl Scout project quandry. The girls are going to be working on an Ecology Journey Badge this year and this will be a quick and easy craft for them at the first meeting. I made it in only 5 minutes! My daughter can’t wait to try it herself.
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xl promo tshirts never fit on a 125 lb woman. I keep them with my scraps and fat quarter stash. the sweatshirt bag idea is a perfect heavy duty bag- but I’d sew that one. tshirt bags are PERFECT for beach bags and shapeless groceries like produce and bulk bags and bread.
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Doing this RIGHT NOW. Great idea, since we can’t have backpacks at school, I’m just going to make a bag!
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