Tutorial: Repurposed T-Shirt Bag with Iron-on Animals

My kids got tons of toys for Christmas. Way too many. It drives me insane when they all end up in one big jumble…I like to group like toys together. I made a few repurposed bags last summer (small ones from t-shirt sleeves and large ones from t-shirts).

I used an old t-shirt that had some oil stains on it that I couldn’t remove. It was size 2T.

I just cut it off below the armpits. (I saved the sleeves & neck for another project!)

Next, it was time to do some embellishing. I used heat-n-bond to attach an elephant and a hippo to a scrap of white jersey fabric.

Ironing on the hippo:

To make the bottom of the bag, I measured the perimeter of the t-shirt. Then I cut out a rectangle.

I sewed the rectangle to the bottom of the bag, making square corners.

I used the original hem of the t-shirt for the drawstring’s casing. I just pulled out a few stitches and then backstitched with my sewing machine to prevent any more from unraveling.

I made the drawstring out of jersey fabric. I cut a length about 2” wide long enough to go all through the t-shirt’s hem. I sewed a tube and then turned it right-side out with a safety pin.

Then I simply threaded it through the hem with the safety pin and tied a knot at either end! Simple, yet very cute!