Multipurpose Lightweight Backpack (4707 Views)

view all steps

•  
  1
•  
  2
•  
  3
•  
  4
•  
  5
•  
  6
•  
  7
•  
  8

• 

  Step 1 of 8

  First off lets grab two shirts that we either can't fit into anymore or that we think would make a cool looking bag, yay!

• 

  Step 2 of 8

  Next step is to line the shirts up, one on top of the other.

  Then either follow the picture or just eyeball it, cutting a rectangle shape out of the shirts, removing the sleeves, the collar, and the bottom of the shirt, along with the sides.

  After you finish you should have 4 rectangular pieces of fabric, all about the same size. If its like a 1/4 of an inch off don't worry it will be hidden later on.

• 

  Step 3 of 8

  Now we have to be careful on this part because if you do this wrong and finish this next step you will have a lot of ripping to do.

  Grab the piece you want to be in the front of the bag(shirt 1 w/logo) and pin it to a piece you want to be on the inside of the bag(shirt 2). Make sure the right sides are facing when you pin.

  Do the same with the other 2 rectangles you have. Back of shirt 1, pinned to back of shirt 2, right sides facing.

• 

  Step 4 of 8

  Now sew along the edges using a small zigzag stitch making sure theres about a 1/4 inch seam. When you get to one of the bottom corners (either works). Make sure to leave about an inch to 1 1/2 inches of unstitched area to allow you to flip the shirts inside out when your done sewing them. Another thing to do before you flip them is to cut a little triangle off the corners, so that when you flip the shirt inside out, not only will it hide the stitch giving a professional appearance the corners will be softer and look a lot better as well.

  So sew both of them and then flip them both inside out, so you can see your logo on the front. Pretty neato so far huh? :D

• 

  Step 5 of 8

  You should now have two pieces that resemble this image, but better looking than mine.

• 

  Step 6 of 8

  The green sides in this image represent the inside part of the bag. You want to fold the fabric over about an inch or so and pin it down so its easier to sew. I used a zigzag stitch but it will look much better if you use a straight or line stitch. Either way works i used a zigzag because I didn't want the stitch to pull apart when I was opening and closing the bag, because of the stretchiness of the shirt fabric. You want to be able to fit at least a finger in there, because that is where you will push the rope through later on.

• 

  Step 7 of 8

  Now you want to cut your rope in equal lengths, 2 pieces. Long enough to loop through the top part and back down to the lower part of the bag, going in as deep as the lines show. You need to do this to both sides. You can test to see if it worked or not by pulling on the strings and if the top pulls together then you looped it properly, if not try again.

  After you loop it through and have it sitting in between the two pieces (faces together) at the bottom corners , you will want to sew it together, making sure to go back and forth a few times over where the rope is to secure it in there tightly. Make sure to not sew over the holes at the top of your bag, stop right below the holes where your other stitch goes across. When you are done sewing cut the excess corners off, and flip it inside out. Next you want to sew the two pieces together facing each other again, make sure you don't sew the top, or else you wont be able to put anything inside the bag.

• 

  Step 8 of 8

  Congratulations you have yourself a recycled t-shirt bag that can hold and carry many things. If anything was unclear or you feel I missed a step please send me a message and I will try to clarify it for you or fix it in the how to. Thank you for reading it. Send me some pictures and let me know how yours turned out.