Making galaxy shirts

I really like making galaxy shirts, they are fun pretty easy and a great way to get kids to  learn about negative space (with out imposing a lesson on them).

My kids had a few friends over and we made galaxy shirts.

the basics:
start with a cotton shirt
lay out random circle objects-we used taped, lids and a frizbee
using a spray bottle spray a 50/50 mix of water and bleach
let it "develop" rinse
we then tossed the shirts into the drier on low
once dry we put in details like rings and dots of stars using a bleach gel pen
after the next round of bleach is rinsed off we washed and dried the shirts
once dry add the paint
I found a great bottle of spray white fabric paint, that really helps.
Once the paint dries remember to heat set.

These are great fun, and the kids had a terrific time. I really enjoyed watching their little customizations.  One painted in a mini Tardis- instant Doctor Who shirt; another kid made sure there were 9 planets, added a rainbow bridge  and labeled a few of the planets Asguard and Midguard--instant Thor shirt; one created cookie monster in space, and the last kid added arranged the planets for a solar system. None of these additions were guided or suggested. Its great to see how the took the concept of space and made them their own!

I plan on cutting them up to make mine into a deconstructed tank top.

DIY no sew tote bag from t-shirt

This is the blog post I was going write. Fortunately I found the cable for my camera.

I found this cute zombie t-shirt at good will, and, well we like zombies at our house, so I figured this would be a great shirt to use for the project (that and it certainly wasn't going to fit any of us).

Step 1: Trim the sleeves off,  trim the bottom hem off, trim the collar out. I used a square shape.

Step 2: Stretch all the areas you cut so the edge rolls.

Step 3: Fringe the bottom of the shirt. I cut these about 1/4 inch to about 1/2 inch.

I cut my fringe a bit deep, since I didn't want the sponsors on my bag. Next time I won't make the fringe so long.

Step 4: Cut off the hem from one of the sleeves. Trim 4 strips about 1/2 inch wide.

Step 5: Trim the seem from the four strips, and stretch them so they roll.

Step 6: Use the strips to tie bows on the straps.

Step 7: Tie opposite fringes together. I used a basic double knot. Then tie the side-by-side fringes together. This makes a nice tight bottom with minimum holes (see next picture).

The inside of the bag, see tight holes.

Ta-da fringy zombie bag.

If you don't like all the fringe, even if it were cut shorter, you can tie the fringes together on the inside. Your bag would look sort of like this instead.

No sew t-shirt bags

This is not the post I was going to write.
I took a whole bunch of step-by-step photos for a no-sew t-shirt bag, and now I cannot find the cable to plug the camera into the computer! Its a totally cute zombie 5k shirt, and now a book bag for the kid--totally appropriate (I have unique and awesome kids that way).
GAH!

So Instead please go visit these other blogs for some awesome ideas for re-crafting t-shirts into bags

Do Stuff on leethal's blog for another variation of a no-sew t-shirt bag.
http://www.leethal.net/zine/?p=1344

I particularly like wrapping presents in the bag, double gifting! Talk about reduce reuse recycle.  This is a great idea to give shopping bags to someone, encouraging the use of reusable shopping bags, reusing t-shirts, and reducing wrapping paper garbage!

Im already thinking about doing this for this years gifting fiasco called christmas. Wrapping prezzies in t-shirt bags that is.

Or go visit ecouterre for this version thats been making the rounds on pintrest:
http://www.ecouterre.com/recycle-an-old-t-shirt-into-a-produce-grocery-bag-diy-tutorial/t-shirt-produce-bag-1/
It does involve sewing.

This one at So you Think You're Crafty involves knitting: http://www.soyouthinkyourecrafty.com/2011/07/t-shirt-yarn-knit-market-bag-tutorial/

And this one from Art Threads gets a little fancy:
http://artthreads.blogspot.com/2011/03/wednesday-sewing-repurposed-t-shirt.html


And as soon as I get that darned cable, I will post my variation of a no-sew t-shirt bag.