how-to of the day: make a recycled reversible t-shirt totebag, part two

In my last post I showed you the t-shirt I’m going to use to create a reversible totebag.

To begin, lay the shirt out onto a flat surface and smooth all the wrinkles out of it.  What happens when you cut wrinkled fabric?  You end up with funny jagged lines – not good!

Cut the sleeves off, following the shoulder seam.  Cut a straight line across the top of the shirt, just underneath the collar.

Cut off the bottom hem (I actually cut off about 2 inches from the bottom of this shirt)  Now trim the sides to create a square or rectangle.

Place the right sides together and sew the bottom of the t-shirt/bag.  Don’t sew the sides just yet   Patience is a virtue…

Open up the t-shirt (it should be one long rectangle now) and lay it on top of your lining fabric.  I recommend using a tightly-woven cotton or cotton blend for this project.  It’s going to prevent the stretchy t-shirt from getting deformed when you stuff library books into the bag

Cut the lining out, using the t-shirt as the pattern.  I’ll show you where to go from there in my next post…