T-Shirt Shopping Bags

I've been promising for a while now that I would start going through old posts and start reworking them. So I decided to start today with one of my most popular upcycle ideas (at least when I use them in public): The t-shirt shopping bag.

I wanted to make these bags for a while now, but I knew to make them I would have to learn to use my sewing machine. And well, I like everything to be perfect and when I'm not sure what I'm doing, it completely freaks me out and I don't even want to try. (This is exactly why my sewing machine has collected dust for over three years and why my t-shirts have sat in a box for about as long). But I knew how important this project was and I knew that if I didn't start using the sewing machine now, I likely never would.

So here we go... 

trying to make some t-shirt shopping bags!

Experiment

Upcycle T-shirt into Reusable Shopping Bags

Instructions from ReFabulous!

Results

I think the best way to start this project is to think of yourself as a one person factory line. 

So first I marked out where I wanted to cut in a sharpie and then I cut off the sleeves. And repeated this until I was out of shirts

(I left room so you could still see the logos once I made the handles for my bags)

And then I (finally) used my sewing machine to sew up the bottom and then flipped it inside out and sewed up the bottom again.

Its as easy as that. 

The best part the shopping bag is not only more sturdy than regular shopping bags; it can also fit more in it. (I like to think its about twice as big as a plastic bag, but I haven't done any real measuring to confirm that). So you can really load them up when your out shopping. In fact I often only use one when I'm out shopping. (maybe two if I need to protect my bread from getting squished).

Conclusion

This is probably one of my favorite projects to date. I use mine all the time when I'm out shopping and I often get complimented on them. Or just generally people seemed impressed that I made bags out of old t-shirts. And plus it makes me feel like I'm helping out the environment. (and saving that 5 cents for every bag I use when shopping at Target doesn't hurt either!)

In the end its easy to make, you don't have to buy materials and it helps the environment. (And who knows, if companies don't have to waste money on plastic bags, items may get cheaper!), so really there is no reason not to make your own T-shirt Shopping Bags!