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Friday, April 26, 2019

Reuse, don't Chuck that Tee!

At my library we celebrated our local Trashion Week (leading up to Fashion Revolution Week) with a few workshops. I was lucky enough to be able to lead a session on upcycling t-shirts into scarves, alongside a friend and volunteer who is also a sewist.

This is a quick and easy idea for a workshop, whether it's at a library or just a crafternoon activity with friends (in that case you could also have refreshments. Just sayin.) We asked staff and a few family members for donations of any old tees they no longer wanted, and encouraged attendees to bring one if they had one they'd like to reuse. We ended up with plenty!



Then we found a few patterns online for variations of t-shirt scarves, printed off the instructions, and queued up the smartboard with some youtube tutorials in case we needed them (we did). We had a great time! Over the course of an hour and a half, we cut up old tees, made them into new and wearable fashions, and had a lot of fun together.




I chose to share a pattern which I've made a few times as a Christmas gift, this braided scarf, and we also found another semi-braided variety. One of the participants came with her own design as well -- isn't it gorgeous?



I got so excited by the possibilities that I rounded up a few more links of things to do with old t-shirts. Here are the ideas I shared at our workshop -- I hope some of them will catch your interest and give you a good way to use up old tees or even your leftover knit scraps (I know we all have a lot of those!)


12 Ways to Recycle Your T-Shirts


 

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4 comments:

  1. GracaApril 27, 2019 at 9:00 AM

    What a wonderful sounding event. Thanks for sharing the links, I don't have any old t-shirts I want to cut up but I think I can make this work with some scraps from knit wear sewing projects.

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    1. MelwykApril 27, 2019 at 10:30 PM

      I think that's the most likely way I'll make some of these projects as well, since I don't have or wear tshirts generally. I was happy to be asked to help with this particular program though -- I love sharing upcycling ideas!

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  2. SaraMay 12, 2019 at 3:56 AM

    I have enjoyed looking through all the ways to use t-shirts. I have a pile at home So should just give a few ideas a go. That should be a nice quick project.
    You do very innovative things at your library.

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    1. MelwykMay 12, 2019 at 10:58 AM

      I'd really like to make one of those latch hook style rugs with tshirt strips -- looks so soft! Yes, our library is great -- we try to provide a variety of learning experiences for different learning styles. Sometimes I get to be a part of a fun one like this!

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Share your comments, ideas or suggestions here -- I am always interested in hearing from readers. It's nice to have a conversation!