Turning an Old T-Shirt into a Bag or Tote

I overdid the knitting a couple of days ago, and my wrist is hurting. So I decided to do some sewing. I am far from an accomplished sewer, but I can do a straight seam. Which is all that is needed for this project. My local grocery store is going to start charging for plastic bags. Since I am a frugal person, I don't want to cough up $0.05 for a bag I know costs less than $0.02. I am also loathe to fork out $0.99 for their 'environmental bag'. It is cheaply made, falls apart easily (according to people I know that have bought them) and they are small. So you need to buy a bunch of them.


To make your own bags for free, all you have to do is the following:


1. Get a tshirt. It does not have to be big. The ones I used were a ladies medium and made a reasonable size bag.

Feel free to use one without a cat on it. In my house it is rather difficult to fine such a shirt.

2. Turn the shirt inside out and pin the bottom edge together.

3. Sew the bottom together. Remove pins.

Yes, that is a very old sewing machine. Call it my version of environmentalism. I use this one and it stays out of the landfill. Also, it is the only machine I have!

4. Cut the sleeves off. I did not cut through both sides of the sleeve at once after the first bag, the handle turned out a little thinner than I would have liked. I cut around the armhole through one thickness of fabric at a time after that. Worked out better.

5. Cut straight down beside the neckhole on both sides and then across to make a square opening. This I did through both thicknesses of fabric at once.
6. the bag is done!
7. Repeat as many times as you have t-shirts or patience. All 4 bags took me less than an hour.

(idea cribbed from Random Meanderings. Hi Bezzie!)
Happy cheap recycling!