T-Shirt Tote Bag for Kids

T-shirt tote bags are such a great way to repurpose an old t-shirt.  The cost is nothing, you can do so many different things with them and they are one of the easiest things you will ever make.  

I've been wanting to make one of these for a while but finally got around to it.  My youngest son had a cute Flag T-Shirt that he had grown out of {insert really deep sigh of sadness} and I just couldn't part with it so I made it into a tote bag for him.  This would be perfect for him to take lunch to the park, snacks to the drive-in or to use to hold his snacks for summer camp.  The list goes on and on.

Supplies:

T-shirt

scissors

sewing machine and thread

plate or something round to mark the area you will be cutting out.

1.  Cut off the sleeves leaving the seam intact.

2.  Mark an area around the neck and above the design using the plate.  

3.  I used a pencil because I'm fancy like that but you could use a sewing pencil that will come off in the wash.  Once I marked my 'curved' area I removed the plate and then drew lines straight up for the handles.

4.  Make your cut out of the line you just drew.

5.  Turn your shirt/bag inside out and stitch using either a straight seam or a zig zag seam.  The zig zag is better as it will allow for stretch of your tote.  I did both to reinforce the seam.

6.  Measure in 1 ½ inches from the bottom corners and make a gusset sewing straight across.

7.  Cut off the outer edge of what you just sewed.  

8.  Turn right side out and stitch if you would like around the arm seams and neck seam to set it off or leave as it.  Since it's t-shirt material it won't fray.  

There you have it ~ an easy to make, repurposed, recycled tote bag for the little person in your life.  You could also make ones from larger shirts to use for grocery shopping, going to the farmer's market, flea market, etc.  

A few years ago I made this pillow from my oldest son's favorite t-shirt.  

 And this picture I added just because my little guy looked so cute with his eyes closed!  He doesn't have any grandmas so you have to humor me by letting me share stuff here.  🙂  

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