T-Shirt Bags

I love bags.  I have way too many of them; they clutter up my closets and bedroom.  But I'm not into bags that cost more than a month's worth of groceries...most of my stash cost less than $10.

My favorites are the ones I've made.  I've been playing around lately with old T-Shirts, and here are a few styles I came up with:

Ruffled, version A

Ruffled, version B

Plain, with contrasting thread and a pocket

This next one is pretty much like Ruffled version A (except bigger) but it was made from a T-Shirt with that design on it; I'm not talented/patient enough to add that myself!

Here's all the bags I whipped up last Thursday.  (The two on the far left are both "Plain with contrasting thread and a pocket" (hmmm, I think that needs a better name))

If you look closely, you'll see a little army of paint bottles in the upper right corner of this pic.

Yes, my friends, I couldn't leave well enough alone...I had to decorate the bags too.

You see, my mom spent all last week at Cub Scout Day Camp.  That left my 12-yr old twin brothers and 9-yr old sister with my 80 yr old grandmother.  I decided Friday I would give her a break and do a project with the kids.  So I stayed up until almost 11 (my kids are up at 6am, so I like to be in bed by 9 usually) to get all the bags sewn. 

I also brought over some potatoes that were sprouting to use for potato stamps.

Seeing as I still don't trust them with a sharp utensil, I had them trace what they wanted and then I cut out the shapes.  Of course they wanted ridiculously intricate things...I got them to compromise with a heart, peace sign, circle, moon, and the Green Lantern symbol.  (It's a comic book character...I unfortunately know quite a bit about the Green Lantern since my hubby is just a big kid and actually has my 2 year old hooked on the Justice League.  And she's a girl.  But anyways.) 

The kids in action...

I wasn't sure if my little Munchkin would want to do this, but luckily I came prepared with her apron just in case!  She still managed to get paint on her sleeves of course.

She also found out the hard way that even though paint looks yummy, it isn't!  (Although the colors we were using did kind of make me think of Hook, where they make-believe all that food.)

The after math...clean-up wasn't too terrible, but it was hard for me to see my favorite bag look so...like a 2 year old attacked it.  Which is exactly what happened, but still.  I get a little too attached to my sewing projects sometimes, so this was a good exercise in letting go.  And my daughter is very proud of her new bag!

All four bags...(from left to right) my brother's which had something to do with a bird key and "Clowbag" or something, my other brother's completely Green Lantern bag, my Munchkin's hearts and messy painting, and lastly my sister's Love and Peace bag - with some lightning bolts thrown in for good measure I guess.

Now, I just need to make one for myself!

(Minus all the paint I think.)

Click here to see how I made the Ruffle bags.