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Learn how to reuse your old T-shirts. As the flowers bloom and the weather turns warm, kids grab their comfortable ol’ tees. Yet, some of those tees may not be your best choice to wear because they are:

• Stained
• Too small
• Not in style

Before you toss out your old T-shirts, consider what you can do with them, whether it’s wearing them in new ways, creating new uses for them, or making sentimental keepsakes.

Here are six of my favorite ways to re-purpose old T-shirts:

1. Make a pair of shorts

Make an extra-large T-shirt handed down from your older (and bigger) brother or sister into a new piece of clothing: shorts! Yes, a little sewing is required, but the results are definitely worth it.

All you need is an extra-large T-shirt, scissors, chalk, and a sewing machine. The design on the front of the shirt ends up being on the side of one leg of the shorts. There are many steps, but it’s pretty simple, so watch to find out how.

2. Cut the shirt

If you’re not really into the design or style of the shirt anymore, but still like the color, grab a pair of scissors and transform your tee. There are a lot of options.

Plenty of Ways to Cut a Shirt

You can:

• Cut off the collar to make the shirt hang off one shoulder.
• Cut up the sides. Create three-inch strings by clipping every half-inch from the bottom to the armpit. Tie the strings together to make the shirt smaller and more fitted.
• My favorite transformation is to cut ribs into the back of the t-shirt and make a whole new design.

 

For this last one, fold the back of the t-shirt in half (from hemline to neckline) and cut eight-inch-long strips from the fold, about a half-inch apart.

Unfold the shirt and “braid” the ribs. Grab the bottom slit, pull it over the next higher slit, grab this slit and pull it up and over the next slit and repeat until you get to the end.

Watch this video. It goes into detail and is especially helpful on the braiding part.

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Just because the shirt has some spots doesn’t mean you have to throw it away...

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