Monday 11 January 2016

The T-shirt who dreamed of becoming a bag

Another post about a morning spent at Debbie Bryan, we're becoming regulars!  This was a free event.  We were asked to bring along an old t-shirt to be converted into a simple shopping bag.  I don't actually have any old t-shirts so mum brought some of dad's with her.  I picked a black one with a hash tag pin-tuck stitched into it.


The black, raised lines were already on the t-shirt.  We were let loose with fabric paint, stamps, pens, embroidery threads, lace motifs and ribbons.  I went for some Perle cotton 5 and added 3 lines of sashiko stitching in 3 different shades.


We then cut the arms off the t-shirt, and the neck band and some people sewed theirs up in class.  I didn't as we only had 2 hours and it took me that long to do the stitching (yes, I was gossiping when I should have been working!).  I did it at home on my machine as I thought that would be much more sturdy for carrying around shopping than doing it by hand.


For some reason this outdoor picture has come out a funny colour!  Also, you can't really see much here - I didn't think to take a photo of it acting as a bag, so you'll just have to either believe me or call me a liar!

This is mum's:


She was in the process of embroidering little birdies and adding some bits of lace and ribbon.  She was going to finish it at home, but I haven't checked up on her...

9 comments:

margaret said...

I have seen tee shirts used in quilts before but not bags, are the arm holes the handles?

SuperMomNoCape said...

You and your mum do take the neatest classes. I love seeing the different thing you create during them.

Rachel said...

We do tend to assume that machine stitching is sturdier, but sometimes I wonder whether I should actually perform an experiment to find out!

Do you use your new bag often?

Christine said...

That's a clever idea, much better than just throwing them away

Melody said...

That's a very clever idea.

Fiona said...

great post and I love your bag... so clever with your ideas on what to do with the tea shirts
Hugz

Jane said...

I've seen t shirts changed to bags, but never embellished, great idea and a good result

Sandra :) said...

You are so lucky to have access to such fun classes! That black hashtag t-shirt is adorable with just the pintucking - adding the embroidery stitches really kicks it up a notch. Then it makes a really stylin bag! I do believe you, and I'm not calling you a liar, haha. Your mom's is cute too - do you just cut it into the bag shape, or are the raw edges finished?

Sarah in Stitches said...

That's such a good idea! Great job :D