7 DIY Projects For All Your Old T-Shirts

Take that tee from high school and turn it into a shopping bag. Still have some unused shirts leftover? Sell them on letgo.

You’ll need:

1 large (or bigger) T-shirt

1 flower pot

Fabric scissors

Instructions:
1. Cut the top part of the T-shirt off, right under the armpits. (You won’t need this.) Then cut along the seams on each of the sides of the shirt, creating two pieces. Keep those aligned.

2. Fold that in half lengthwise and cut along the fold, creating four pieces. Keep those aligned too.

3. Fold both of the strips of two lengthwise again and cut on the fold. Basically, you want 8 equal strips.

4. Stretch each of the stripes out, one at a time. They should curl into a cord-like shape.

5. Line up all of the eight strips and tie them together at the end.

6. Take two strips that are next to each other, twist twice, and make a knot. Repeat until you have four knots.

7. Split apart the strips you just knotted together, and tie four new knots, connecting one strip from one knot to another strip from another knot.

8. Twist the final four strips around each and then tie them all together at the top.

9. Nestle your flower pot into the basket!

You’ll need:

2 wire hangers

1 15-by-15-inch piece of cardboard

Masking tape

Pliers that can also cut wire (or pliers + a wire cutter) |

1 medium T-shirt

Safety pins

Instructions:

1. Untwist your wire hangers and snip off the twisty ends.

2. Shape the hangers so they create two equal arches.

3. Reinforce your cardboard ends with masking tape if you’d like.

4. Poke the wires through each of the corners of the cardboard.

5. Tape the two arches together in the center creating a dome.

6. With about 1 inch of the wires through the cardboard, use your pliers to bend it flat at the bottom and secure them flat with a piece of tape.

7. Pull the shirt over the tent frame so the neck hole is in the front middle.

8. Fold the bottom opening of the shirt under and safety pin it in place. It should be taut.

9. Fold the sleeves under and pin those too.

10. Introduce your cat to his or her new tent!

You’ll need:

2–3 T-shirts (the amount you need will vary)

Rotary fabric cutter and cutting mat (or fabric scissors)

1 non-slip rug mat

Instructions:

1. Cut 1-inch-by-½-inch strips of T-shirt with fabric scissors or use a rotary fabric cutter to cut the strips more quickly.

2. Cut the rug mat to whatever size you want.

3. Start tying the strips of T-shirt material into the rug mat. Tie two strips per square in the rug mat; tie them on opposing corners of the squares.

4. Continue tying in this pattern until your whole rug is filled.

5. That’s it! Enjoy the soft T-shirt material between your toes.

You’ll need:
Felt (you’ll need less than 1 square-foot)

1 T-shirt

1 necklace chain

Fabric scissors

Hot glue gun

Instructions:
1. Start by cutting out 5 small (1–1.5 inch) felt circles. Then cut out a bunch of circles from the T-shirt. The T-shirt circles should be about the same size as the felt circles.

2. Take one of the T-shirt circles and scrunch it from the center, almost like a flower. Apply a drop of glue to the point of the scrunched T-shirt circle and place in the middle of the felt.

3. Repeat until you filled the felt square — and then repeat with the remaining four felt circles. If you want, you can trim the pom poms down.

4. Glue the two ends of the necklace chain to the back of two of the pom poms.

5. Arrange all five pom-poms on the remaining felt in a wide semicircle, with the two pom-poms attached to the chain on the ends. Glue all five of them down.

6. Now trim the felt around the pom-poms until you’re left with only the necklace. Enjoy!

You’ll need:

1 T-shirt

Fabric scissors

Instructions:

1. Cut the sleeves off the shirt, and cut the neck out a little below the stitching.

2. Make little vertical cuts around the bottom on the shirt, creating a fringe. The fringe strips should be about ¾ inch wide.

3. Tie the top fringes to the back fringes to close the bag. Then make new knots by tying the fringes again diagonally to close up any small holes. You should be tying a front piece of fringe to the back piece next to it.

4. Once you’re sure there are no small holes, you can use your bag!

You’ll need:
A variety of colorful old T-shirts

Fabric scissors

Bangle bracelets

Instructions:
1. Cut T-shirts however you’d like in ½- to 1-inch-wide strips. A thicker bracelet will need thicker strips.

2. Stretch the stripes out. They should curl into a cord-like shape.

3. Loosely tie one end of the T-shirt strip to the bangle. Start wrapping the fabric strip around bracelet tightly.

4. When the whole bracelet is wrapped, tie the beginning and end pieces together in a double knot, making sure the knot is inside the bracelet.

5. Trim the ends. Repeat with as many bangles as your heart desires!

You’ll need:

2 T-shirts

Fabric scissors

Instructions:
1. Cut the sleeves off each of the shirts and cut the top off in a straight line.

2. Cut small 2- to 3-inch-wide vertical slits at the base of your shirts. After you’ve cut all your slits all the way around, rip along the slit, and your T-shirt will have the perfect strips of fabric for the next step.

3. Gather your T-shirt strips and tie off one end.

4. To start braiding, divide your strips into three bunches. Braid those bunches of strips in a standard braid.

5. Tie at the end — and you’re ready to play with your pup!

Photos by Stone, Zaser, Vogel/©BuzzFeed. Design by Laura Hoerner/©BuzzFeed.

Want to do more? Find additional shirts for your DIY projects on letgo. And if you have shirts leftover, you can sell them there too.