by Susan Hibberd

Created on: January 01, 2011

Old t-shirts seem to accumulate in almost the same way that odd socks do! Sometimes you buy a t-shirt you love but just never find the right thing to wear it with. Sometimes you get a small stain or tear in the corner of a favourite t-shirt and can’t bear to throw it out, and sometimes you just make a mistake when you buy one.

Whatever the reason you have old t-shirts in your wardrobe, now is the time to drag them out and make the decision about what to do with them.  If they have pretty embellishments, embroidery, appliqué or are made of lovely quality fabric in gorgeous colors, why throw them out? Old t-shirts can be easily made into things for the home using your home décor crafting skills.

Pillow Covers

Old t-shirts can make great covers for pillows. If the colors already match your bedroom or living room, then that’s a great start. If they don’t, then dye them the correct shade.

Once you have found a t-shirt in the right color, lay a pillow pad onto the t-shirt to make sure it fits. This will probably be across the body part of the garment.  Cut across the t-shirt to make a large rectangle that will be the basis of your pillow cover.

Before you sew the cover, take a look at the bit of t-shirt that are left behind. If there is a particularly nice piece of the design that has been left behind, cut it out and appliqué it to the piece you are using. Detach buttons or lace and attach that to your pillow piece.

Next, hem the rectangle along the short sides. Fold the piece in three, and sew along the long sides. You will now have a pocket that you can slip the pillow pad into.

Use funky kids t-shirts for the den, pastel colors for the bedroom and dark colors for the living room. For extra interest, tie-dye the shirts before use.

Peg Holders

You can make really cute peg holders out of kids t-shirts. If you can’t bear to throw away your kids outgrown t-shirts because they looked so cute in them, use them to make little peg holders. Simple sew across the bottom and across the sleeve ends and hang up with a child-sized coat hanger. Fill with pegs, or anything else that needs storing.

Dusting cloths

Old t-shirts are soft  and made of absorbent cotton, and make great dusting cloths.  Simply cut the seams out, and hem round the remaining fabric.

Quilting

Old t-shirts can be used to make soft quilts. You will need to layer the fabric with a less stretchy material, or use it as the wadding layer in a quilt you have already made.

Rag Rug

Old t-shirts are great for making rag rugs as they are soft to work with. Cut the t-shirt material into strips about 1” wide, and  sew them together to make long strips.  These strips can be knitted or plaited together and made into rugs. Alternatively, they can be hooked through hessian sacking to make a traditional hooked rug

These are a few ideas of ways to recycled your old t-shirts into home décor items using your crafting skills. If you can’t bear to throw away a favourite t-shirt, then this is an ideal way to keep them with you. If you can’t think of a way to recycle them, take them to the charity shop and perhaps someone else can make use of them.

Happy crafting!

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