Clean Out Your Closet And Upcycle Some Old Shirts

Clean Out Your Closet and Upcycle Some Old Shirts

Old T-shirts can sometimes be a man or woman’s best friend– worn-in and comfy, but not always the most stylish. When they are not your best friend any longer, or maybe they never were, instead of giving them away you can find new, even improved uses for them! Just throwing an aged t-shirt away is sad when so much more can be done with a beat-up shirt! Upcycling an old t-shirt can lead to a discovery of something you never expected could come from a shirt.

1. Throw Pillow

Buy any size pillow that you would want to use for your bed or your sofa as a decorative accent. Then take an old shirt that you love whether its for the color or design, and create it into the cover for a pillow. If the shirt is smaller it might be difficult to get it to fit over anything but a very small pillow, but besides that most shirts are big enough to cut up the side seams and make two sides for a pillow to sew together.

2. T-shirt Flowers

You can cut up a t-shirt lengthwise into strips and with each strip do a stitch through the middle. The stitch up the middle will create some bunching that is necessary to make the flowers look good. Fold the strip you are working on in half (once again lengthwise) so that only one side adjacent to the stitch is flat on a surface. Now you simply twist it up like you would when you roll up a belt. On one side of the now rolled up t-shirt strips, add a circular piece of the t-shirt with some glue to flatten it out. It will really look like a flower, and they look great in a vase or a big bowl.

3. Decorate Bangles

These are super chic. If you have some plain bangles that are a solid color and are getting too boring, this is an awesome idea for you. Cut up any size strips, any which way you want from your shirt. Tie a knot on one end of the strip and wrap it tightly around the bangle. When you run out of a strip or have decided where to stop and have cut your shirt strip shorter, you need to untie the knot and tie the two ends together. You can leave the ends of the tie whatever length you want, but they sometimes look better with shorter ends.

4. Art

Depending on the sentimental value of the shirt that you are upcycling this might be perfect. Go to any local crafts store and get a canvas that seems like a fitting size for the shirt you are working with. Then you can just cut the shirt appropriately and stretch it over the canvas, stapling it on the back. There! Simple yet stunning art!

5. Bleach Pen Fashion

It is what it sounds like– take a bleach pen and draw some designs that you like on your old shirt. If it is plain or has something on it that could work hand in hand with the designs you draw, you can completely revamp that old boring shirt.

6. Fringe Shirt

Give your old boring top an exciting and fresh look. Cut off the bottom seam of your t-shirt and then cut from the bottom of your shirt up about three to six inches (you decide), lengthwise, in small strips. After you have cut these smaller strips that are still attached to the shirt, you can start to knot them together in different patterns to make it look like a diamond shaped fringe or you can just leave it as it is.

7. Bracelets, Anklets

Cut up any old shirt in strips and sew three strips together at one end (leaving the thread and needle off to the side, but still attached) and then braid them all together tightly. Stop at a length that will fit your wrist or your ankle and then sew together that end too. Then you can sew both together to join the fabric into a bracelet or anklet. If leaving it looking like that bugs you tie an extra strip around the seam and knot it. Make sure you leave enough space so that you do not cut off your circulation!

8. Quilt

Take a bunch of old t-shirts you having laying around and sew them into a quilt! Take a plain quilt and cut the shirts into equal size squares that have what is important to you from the shirt on them. Sew them onto the front and backside of the existing quilt, and then you have a completely different looking quilt to use! This is great to keep memories alive. You could also do this on a smaller scale if you maybe wanted to make a tapestry.

9. Skirt

Step into a shirt that can stretch and won’t rip when you put your legs through the head hole. Pull it up to where it feels comfortable and looks good. Then take the sleeves and tie them whichever way you want to in the front. Usually a knot is the best way to do this. Tuck everything that is out of place under the tied part that you just made and fix accordingly!

10. Tote Bag

Sew the bottom of your shirt together and then cut off the sleeves. After cutting off the sleeves cut off the neckline, too. When you are cutting the neckline off try to do it a little bit bigger than you need to in order to make look like a perfect circle around the whole head opening. Since part of the shirt is still left over, these will be your straps. This is a grocery shopping helper!

All of these uses for an old t-shirt are visually appealing and easy to do. They are fashionable uses of an old t-shirt and can give your t-shirt a few more years of life! Crafts and DIY things are always relaxing too, so have fun while you turn your old t-shirt into something fresh.

This article was written by Rebecca Borchers. Now that Rebecca has finally graduated from college, she has countless old tshirts all the way back from elementary school. Instead of just throwing them to the curb she decided to get creative with her DIY skills. In addition to teaching others how to turn trash into treasure, she writes professionally for DG Promo Inc. Follow her on Google+.