Re-purpose it!

Have you ever lost 50 pounds and had a whole closet full of clothes that no longer fit? Well whether you have or haven't, I'm sure everyone has purged their closet before, thus raising the question, WHAT do I do with all these clothes? Sure you can do a Val Vil/DI/Good Will drop, easy peesy done. Or you could take the next step, going through each piece and folding it nicely and bringing it to a consignment place like Labels and try to earn a fraction of your money back. You could shove all huge clothes into approximately 18 Costco sized garbage bags and find places to stash them throughout the house until you find the time to have a garage sale. *Cough cough...* This is a blog of honesty so I'll be honest, I have bags stashed in my room, in the hall coat closet (sneaky sneaky), filling up the back of my car's rather large trunk, in the closet under the stairs (oh harry potter! I love you), and maybe a bag is in the craft room. I have infiltrated every spare space, but fear not! We are having a camp fundraiser beginning of next month so, we're good. Nobody is probably fat enough to fit in them but whatev's.

I've been thinking though, there are some clothes that I still like, or clothes that not even it's mother could love so what do you do with those?

Why not cut the old shirts into strips and make yarn with them? ok cool. I like to knit and crochet. I can dig it.

Maybe you suffer from Raynaud's syndrome like me and are always cold...? Perhaps a nice quilt would be more to your liking? Just cut your favorite part several shirts into equal squares and sew away. I was going to do this for my brother Ty while he is on his Mission but the night before we left, he gave away almost 30 of his band tshirts leaving me with nothing. So no quilt for him!

Going along with the sewing theme, you could make a rice bag that you can nuke in the microwave and voila instant heat for those cold fingers and toes. Just cut a rectangle, fold in half, sew inside out along the edges, leaving a space at the top, fill with rice then top stitch it closed. I made one out of some scrap fabric I had hanging around and I heat it up erry night and put it under my covers at the foot of my bed. Why not use a (cotton) tshirt?

Did you know that you can make a rug out of old tshirts using a hula hoop? Well you can. I am for sure looking forward to this one. I already have the hoop, just gotta gather some old tshirts and cut into strips and weave. Awesome.

Going grocery shopping? Why not be a little green and make a tote? I've made a few of these, Just cut the arms off, turn inside out and sew up the sides. Done. You could also skip a step (because you might be overwhelmed with all the steps :)) and use an old tank top.

Have a special shirt you can't part with but don't know what to do? Make a stuffed animal for yourself or a child in your life. You could make any animal. I've made a dinosaur before. Just trace out the shape you want, cut two, sew and stuff. Might be cute if you have kids and they grow out of a favorite outfit? Not that I have kids but ya know.

Old sweater doesn't fit anymore? Make it into a dress for a little girl, or make a cowl for yourself. Last night I might have gone to old navy and I might have purchased two large sweaters that were on clearance for $2 to make myself a cowl (so practical this time of year I know).

I have no link for this one because I came up with it yesterday morning. I have black out shades in my room but for some weird reason they don't do me any good leaned up against my wall, strange right?! Well the sun always is soooo bright. I was wearing an old pair of PJ pants which are literally like parachute pants (HUGE) and I thought I'd find a pattern and trace an eye mask out of it then line it with some sort of soft fabric with an elastic band to fit my head.

I only slept for about 4 very broken up hours last night, I felt very sick but ended up being ok. While napping today after church I had an idea to make canvas art with some of my favorite old tshirts. My plan would be to wrap them around a canvas and tie with a rubber band and make art somehow. Like I said I was napping...

Anyways what would YOU do with an old tshirt?