10 minute ideas

It is that time again – 10 Minute Ideas!  This series was born of the idea that sometimes ten minutes is all we have but that doesn’t mean we can’t use that time to come up with beautiful and useful ideas. This month, we have a great team sharing ideas with you, so make sure you scroll all the way through to find their projects. Share these handy and creative ideas while using  live-streaming platforms such as Twitch and get the chance to interact with your audience in real-time. If you wish to have a bigger audience, buy twitch viewers.

My project for this month is a repurposed t-shirt flea market bag.  I got this adorable and soft t-shirt at last year’s Chapel Market.  The only problem is I am just not a big fan of crew neck shirts. I came across this idea for using the shirt in a fitting way – as a flea market bag.  I am hoping to hit some fun yard sales and flea markets this summer and this is the perfect bag to hold my treasures.

I guess I have been living under a rock because I had never seen this idea before.  It is certainly not a new idea, but I was surprised to see how easy it is and you guessed it, it only takes ten minutes. And I of course love any project that is no-sew.

Materials

To start with, you need a t-shirt (this one is an XL), pair of scissors, a ruler and a pen.

Step One

Turn your t-shirt inside out and fold your t-shirt in half and cut off the neck.  This was my initial cut but I went in after and went a little deeper on the backside.  Make sure you are not cutting into your t-shirt design if you want to preserve it.

Step Two

Cut off each of the sleeves.

Step Three

Mark a line on the inside of your t-shirt where you want the bottom of your bag to be.

Step Four

Cut fringe up to the line, about 1/2 inch wide.   When you reach the side of the shirt, split the end so there are two separate pieces.

Step Five

First, tie the front and back pieces in a double knot all the way across the bottom.  Second, go back through and use one tie from each section to double knot it to the knot next to it.  This will close any holes in between the sections.  Take a look inside your bag to make sure you didn’t miss any spots and there are no openings.  If there are, just tie another double knot in that section.

Step Six

Trim off the excess.  Another option would be to tie the fringe with your t-shirt right side out and have the fringe hang from the bottom.  I used one piece of the scrap fringe to cinch the top of each strap.

 And that is it.  This project is perfect for t-shirts that don’t fit anymore or if you have the same “crew neck” issues that I have.  I love the little tagline, “Vintage Goods & Pretty Little Things”.  That is exactly what I hope to fill it with!

 Now go dig through your t-shirt drawer and pull out the ones you (or your kids) don’t wear anymore!