A few weeks ago, I was shopping with a friend. When she checked out, she pulled a tiny little bundle out of her purse, shook it out, and viola! she had a nice big tote bag for carrying her purchases. I always use reusable bags, but none of them are small enough to fit in my purse, and I often forget them in the car. When that happens, I end up pushing the cart out to my car, loading up the bags, and then pushing the cart back to the store. Having a bag in my purse all the time would definitely be a convenient solution.
Last week, I was sorting though my closet, looking for things to give away. I came across a shirt that I never wear, and added it to my donation stack. Then I noticed how lightweight the material was, and how easy it would be to make it into a bag. The project took me about six minutes. I cut off the sleeves to make it into a tanktop (no need to hem anything, as the sleeves had been serged to the body of the shirt, and I just cut right next to the seam). The shoulder straps end up being the handles of the bag. Then I turned it inside-out and sewed back and forth several times across the bottom of the shirt, to close up the bottom of the bag. Now I have a very lightweight bag that wads up into a tiny ball and fits in my purse.
The reason I never wore this shirt was because it was too baggy and shapeless. Not such good qualities in a shirt, but perfect for a carry-all.
It’s hard to tell from that picture (it just looks like a shirt!), but the bottom is sewn shut. Here’s a side view, so that you can see how the shoulder straps of the shirt become handles for the bag:
This was a very simple project that required almost nothing in terms of sewing skills. If you don’t have a sewing machine, you could sew the bottom of the shirt closed by hand. It would take a bit longer, but it’s still an easy task. I had fun with this, and thought maybe some of you would too. Have fun!
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