Decorating with fabric from vintage Tshirts is a great way to hold on to the memories without actually wearing them. How many old concert tshirts or promotional Tshirts are sitting in your closet or at the bottom of a drawer?
If you have children, there are probably thousands of Tshirts lurking around. Schools give away Tshirts, sports programs and dance schools all tend to distribute Tshirts, summer camps, events, scouting groups. Tshirts are hard to avoid. Round them all up and let's get started.
Decorating with Pillows; Making pillows from Tshirts
Pillows. Turn the Tshirt inside out and stitch a seam from armpit to armpit and another along the hem. Leave a few inches open so that you can turn it right-side out and stuff it.
For kids shirts and if you just want to preserve the image, you can make a smaller pillow using a similar sewing method and some ingenuity. Making pillows from old Tshirts is a project that even beginning seamstresses can master.
Decorating with a Homemade Tshirt Quilt.
You can make a quilt with Tshirts, by cutting out the decorative images on the front, try using a uniform shape and size, like a 12 inch square, for each one. When they're all stitched together, you can use quilt batting and a bedsheet for a liner. You can tie the quit with yard or quilt it with a machine.
Professional quilting services will do the quilting for you if you just want to make the front. With so many local quilt shops popping up in many suburban and rural neighborhoods, you might even be able to have them make the whole thing.
Making Tote Bags or Grocery Bags with Tshirts
You can have the cutest green grocery bags on the planet if you use your vintage Tshirts to stitch up a tote bag.
Making a Rag Rug with Tshirts
You can make a rag rug with Tshirts by cutting (or ripping) the Tshirt fabric into one inch strips. Roll the strips into balls and crochet, braid or use the toothbrush technique to make a homemade rag rug.
If you want to preserve the images on the shirts, then a rag rug isn't the solution you're looking for. There are so many options, though. Use your imagination and turn those colorful Tshirts into something cute and decorative.
