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Easy DIY T-Shirt Tote Bag

Our family is always in need of a tote bag (or 12), especially my kids. They have all sorts of treasures that they need to haul everywhere we go, whether it’s jackets and treats to the movies, sand toys to the park, piano books to our lessons, or Pokemon to our playdates, kids have a lot of “stuff”, and they need to be able to carry it on their own!

We created some fun, Easy DIY T-Shirt Tote Bags out of some of our old t-shirts and they’ve worked wonders for my kids. They are so simple to make and take about 30 minutes.

Easy and fun kid craft! DIY T-shirt tote bag made from a recycled t-shirt is kid-friendly and made in about 30 minutes. This was a fun family activity. We use these tote bags for everything now!

All you need is an old t-shirt and a good pair of scissors.

diy-tshirt-tote-bag

Directions:

Lay your shirt flat on a hard surface (i.e. kitchen table)

Easy and fun kid craft! DIY T-shirt tote bag made from a recycled t-shirt is kid-friendly and made in about 30 minutes. This was a fun family activity. We use these tote bags for everything now!

Cut off the sleeves. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but try and get both sides semi-uniform so your tote bag handles are the same size.

Easy and fun kid craft! DIY T-shirt tote bag made from a recycled t-shirt is kid-friendly and made in about 30 minutes. This was a fun family activity. We use these tote bags for everything now!

Cut out the neckline. this will be the opening of your tote bag. You may want to cut an extra inch around the neckline to make sure that the tote bag opening is large enough. Remember, you can always go back and cut more later if it isn’t.

Easy and fun kid craft! DIY T-shirt tote bag made from a recycled t-shirt is kid-friendly and made in about 30 minutes. This was a fun family activity. We use these tote bags for everything now!

Also cut off the hem of the shirt. This is optional, but makes cutting the next step much easier for little fingers without the extra material at the bottom.

Easy and fun kid craft! DIY T-shirt tote bag made from a recycled t-shirt is kid-friendly and made in about 30 minutes. This was a fun family activity. We use these tote bags for everything now!

Cut a fringe along the bottom of the t-shirt, about 1″ wide and 1.5-2″ long so that the knots are easy to tie. In this picture, we cut the side edges a little longer so that the bag would curve up on the sides. Make sure that you are cutting through both sides of the t-shirt uniformly so that your fringe will match when you are tying knots.

Easy and fun kid craft! DIY T-shirt tote bag made from a recycled t-shirt is kid-friendly and made in about 30 minutes. This was a fun family activity. We use these tote bags for everything now!

Once you have cut all your fringe, turn the shirt inside out. We put our knots on the inside so that you don’t see the fringe outside the bag. It can look cute with the fringe on the outside as well if you want to try and mix it up. Take two pieces of fringe and tie them in a double knot.

Easy and fun kid craft! DIY T-shirt tote bag made from a recycled t-shirt is kid-friendly and made in about 30 minutes. This was a fun family activity. We use these tote bags for everything now!

Make sure the knot is good and tight or it will unravel. Don’t worry about matching exact fringe front to back. Even crossing over knots to tie more knots only strengthens the bottom of your tote bag.

Easy and fun kid craft! DIY T-shirt tote bag made from a recycled t-shirt is kid-friendly and made in about 30 minutes. This was a fun family activity. We use these tote bags for everything now!

Once you’ve tied knots across the entire bottom, turn your tote bag right side out again.

Easy and fun kid craft! DIY T-shirt tote bag made from a recycled t-shirt is kid-friendly and made in about 30 minutes. This was a fun family activity. We use these tote bags for everything now!

If you have any rogue fringe sticking out, just stick it back into one of the small holes next to a knot. Looks fantastic!

Easy and fun kid craft! DIY T-shirt tote bag made from a recycled t-shirt is kid-friendly and made in about 30 minutes. This was a fun family activity. We use these tote bags for everything now!

You are ready to fill your tote bag and head out!

Easy and fun kid craft! DIY T-shirt tote bag made from a recycled t-shirt is kid-friendly and made in about 30 minutes. This was a fun family activity. We use these tote bags for everything now!

This great easy DIY T-Shirt Tote Bag takes about 30 minutes to make and is one of the most kid-friendly crafts that we’ve done in a while. I’d love to see a picture of how yours turns out!

Nicole

Sunday 4th of September 2016

I love this so much - and I love the Dr. Seuss tee you used, too. :) Great craft, I'm pinning this one. Thank you for sharing it with us at the #HomeMattersParty this week.

Shirley Wood

Thursday 1st of September 2016

I have t-shirts which would be perfect. Love this! Thanks for sharing with us at Merry Monday. We're pretty excited about fall and looking forward to seeing lots of fall ideas shared at the next party now that we have made it into September.

Katy SkipTheBag

Wednesday 31st of August 2016

I'm all for using less plastic bags! And that shirt is adorable! This tutorial looks simple enough that I could do it! Posts like this are perfect for Waste Less Wednesday blog hop! http://www.skipthebag.com/2016/08/waste-less-wednesday-blog-hop-3.html Thanks!

Kathy Pease

Wednesday 24th of August 2016

What a great idea! This is such a cute project to do with the kids :)

shelly peterson

Sunday 21st of August 2016

What a really neat idea! Great way to re-use a shirt. My nieces would have fun making these.

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