Sunday, July 29, 2012

Re: The Shirt Off His Back



For this week's installment of my (semi-regular) feature Re:, I want to share how I repurpose men's long-sleeve shirts into a number of useful items.

If you're new to my blog, I hope you'll check back on Mondays for Re:, a little feature I do to extol the virtues of the six R's--reduce, reuse, recycle, reclaim, repurpose and respect--and offer tips for an earth-friendly lifestyle. I really do have good intentions of posting on this important topic each week, but admittedly, I've been lax lately.

Now, on to the projects. Earlier this year, a dear friend of mine became a Silpada jewelry rep. Much to my delight, as I love that gorgeous stuff. She wanted to find a simple and inexpensive item for a giveaway for her jewelry parties.

I recalled a cute idea I had seen on Pinterest. It involved cutting the cuffs off men's long-sleeve shirts and sewing them into little pouches that can hold jewelry, thumb drives, lipstick, your iPod Nano, and so on.

So, my friend bought color-of-the-week shirts at Goodwill, and I made the pouches for her.


She didn't want what was left of the cuffless shirts, so I set out to make use of all that nice fabric. 


Another borrowed idea is to make pillow covers out of the body of the shirt. They're easy to make and a snap to remove and launder. They can certainly be embellished, but I like the simplicity of just the shirt for use in kids' rooms, dorm rooms or just for casual use around the house.


Not to stop there, this is what I have up my sleeve for repurposing another usable part of the shirt. The sleeves are the perfect size and shape (with a few minor alterations) to make gift bags for wine bottles or other similarly shaped items.


Another option is to repurpose the breast pockets. These could be used to decorate a child's door or as party favors. I made this one for National Poem in Your Pocket Day and filled it with some of my favorite whimsical poems.

I'm also collecting the shirt collars for a future project.

You can view Off the Cuff pouches, Stuffed Shirt pillow covers and Up Your Sleeve gift bags in different shirt patterns in my shop.

As I dissect these shirts, I keep hearing my grandmother's voice in my head:  Waste not, want not. I hope grandma would be proud.

Make it a great day!
Linking to:


Tip Junkie handmade projects


9 comments:

  1. Ann you are one clever girl! I love those little pouches and although I am not very good friends with my sewing machine, I'm going to try making them! Pinning this and thanks for sharing it!

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  2. Thanks for all those great ideas. Those little cuff pouches would probably suit the Tooth Fairy too!

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  3. These are sweet ideas. VERY interested to see what you will do with collars! :)

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  4. Your grandmother would bee very proud of you for using every part of the shirts. I am anxious to see what you do with the collars.
    I can't sew a stitch so I won't be making any. But these are very nice and if I want some I'll have to purchase from you!

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  5. Great ideas. Love the pocket on the door handle. and all the rest are great ideas too. Thanks for inspiration for next time I'm ready to recycle a shirt/blouse. Gail (BibleLoveNotes.com)

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  6. What great re-use projects...love those little cuff pockets...

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  7. Great projects! A wonderful recycle project. I'm sure grandma would be proud. Thanks for sharing at the All Star Block Party!

    Holly

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  8. Great ideas. I have a link party, and I would love it if you would link this post. It is called Wednesdays Adorned From Above Link Party. You can find it at

    http://www.adornedfromabove.com/2012/08/natural-translucent-face-powder-update.html

    I hope to see you there. Have a great Day.
    Debi Bolocofsky
    Adorned From Above
    www.adornedfromabove.com

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  9. Thanks so much for sharing this shirt refashion post last week with Wednesday's Adorned From Above. The link party is open now for this week.
    Just follow this link.
    http://www.adornedfromabove.com/2012/08/apple-cinnamon-roll-pull-aparts-and.html
    Debi Bolocofsky
    www.adornedfromabove.com

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