T-shirt Projects

It’s back to school, and how best to show your school spirit (and study hard!) than with some personalized notebooks and sketchbooks? Gather up old concert or festival tees, ratty old sports jerseys, those charming family reunion keepsakes, dad’s old tie-dyes, souvenir T-shirts from your summer adventures, and so on.

Materials:

-T-shirts

-Scissors

-Composition-style notebook or sketchbook (any book with a boardbook-style cover)

-Aleene’s Super Thick Tacky Glue

-Squeegee-like hand applicator

Make it:
1. Lay the book open on the T-shirt (arrange it over the featured logo or design). Cut through just one layer of the shirt, about 2″ outside the edge of the notebook.

2. Lay the T-shirt panel face down on your work surface. Apply glue liberally across the front cover of the book.

3. Spread the glue evenly across the cover. Be sure the glue reaches the edges, but avoid getting any glue on the pages. (You don’t want to seal the book shut! You have important note-taking to do.)

4. Fold the T-shirt fabric over the front cover and press it evenly into the glue.

5. Flip the notebook and spread glue across the spine and back cover. Then pull the remaining T-shirt fabric over the back cover, smoothing any wrinkles. Let it dry. Optional: Press the notebook between heavy textbooks to keep it flat!

6. Trim the fabric around the edges of the book cover. Use glue to touch up any edges that are pulling away from the fabric.

7. Repeat with as many notebooks and sketchbooks as you have, and you won’t ever have to trade in your T-shirts for dress shirts at the end of the summer!

My, how smart you look! For extra credit, try making this zippered T-shirt Pencil Case that Cut Out & Keep user Dessah H. made for her college-bound husband!

Here’s a sweet video tutorial from the Threadbanger vaults: Carmia and Carmen of Sistahs of Harlem share a T-shirt refashion from their book: T-shirt Makeovers.  (Psst! You might recognize Carmen from when she competed and “made it work” Tim-Gunn-style on Project Runway Season 4.) Grab a T-shirt of any size and transform it into this simple scoop top in just 10 to 20 minutes!

Enjoy the T-shirt tutorial!

Hi T-shirt fans! I’m super excited to share with you new fun stuff over here at Generation T. (Note the shmancy header on this particular post!) Each month, I’m posting a new project (sometimes T-shirt, sometimes not — I’ll keep you on your toes!) sponsored by the lovely folks over at iLoveToCreate (umm…who doesn’t?). I’ll be posting every project right here, so you guys won’t miss out on anything, but I do encourage you to visit the iLoveToCreate blog from time to time since there are a number of other super fun crafty brains at work on new projects all the time.

Now here’s the good stuff: a T-shirt project I’ve been meaning to make and post for some time. I found the inspiration in a tween-ish retail store I visited this summer (I know, I know, now that I’m a thirty-something perhaps I should start shopping in more adult places) and thought, as I often do, I could so make that….And then, I grabbed some scissors and paint and made it: a tank top with a nod to 80s punk slashed couture and a wink to 80s hip-hop street style.

Materials:

Make it:

1. Cut off the sleeves of the darker T-shirt, just outside the seams, to make a tank top.

2. Cut off the neckband of the lighter T-shirt and lay the tank top over it, lining them up at the neck holes. Trace the tank top onto the T-shirt and cut out the outline through only one layer to make the peekaboo panel.

3. Set aside the dark tank top. Lay the panel flat on the grocery bag paper. Use the fabric markers and stencils to lay a background pattern. (I used chain link fence!)

4. Fill up the paint cannon and spray freehand across the panel in combination with stencils to create another pattern layer. Change colors as much as desired! Then set the panel aside and let it dry.

5. Turn the tank top inside out and measure and mark 9″-long horizontal lines, about 1″ apart, down the front. Stop about 4″ from the bottom hem.

6. Cut along the chalk lines through just one layer of fabric.

7. Gently place the (now dry) panel right side down against the front of the (still inside out) tank top, lining them up again at the neckline. Peel back one side of the panel and squeeze an even amount of fabric glue along the edge. Then gently press the edge against the tank top. Continue gluing around the straight edges only (minus the bottom hem) to attach the panel to the slashed surface of the tank top. Let it dry!

8. Carefully turn the tank top right side out and try it on! The bright graffiti panel will peek through the slashes you made in the front of the darker layer.

Variations:

-If you want to keep the sleeves attached and your shoulders covered, do it! Simply tuck the sleeves inside the shirt while you’re tracing it in step 2.

-If you want to be able to change things up at on a moment’s notice, just spray an entire tank top (rather than a panel) in steps 3 and 4 and wear it layered underneath the slashed tee. Then you have the option of having the graffiti tank peeking between the slashes or any other tank top you have in your wardrobe!

-Try slashing different shapes! Familiarize yourself with the Brokenhearted tee (project #3 in Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-shirt) for a sweet spin on this project.

Now go off and fight. For your right. To par-tee!

Want to resize a T-shirt? Here’s one way to do it in a fun video tutorial from Secret Life of a Bio Nerd on Threadbanger. Then, after you have your fitted tee, add a cool snipped and looped embellishment. (For those of you following along in your books, it’s sort of like a cross between “Heavy Meshinery” project #27 in Generation T and “Back in Action” project #101 from Generation T: Beyond Fashion–but worked on the diagonal.) Tip: Turn the T-shirt inside out to do the marking and cutting, then right side out again to do the looping (this way, the marks won’t be visible in case it takes time for the lines to fade). Happy cutting and sewing!

GOOOAAAL!!! Did you know that regulation FIFA soccer balls are made up of 32 panels (20 hexagons and 12 pentagons) and held together with 720 stitches? As I root for the various teams battling it out in South Africa, I decided to give myself a challenge at home: to create a softie football. (So I have something to squeeze during penalty kicks and toss around when the good guys score!) And while mine isn’t regulation size (it’s about 6″ in diameter with a 19″ circumference) and perhaps a little lopsided, it’s perfect for tossing around while you’re watching from the couch.

Materials:

2 T-shirt (L) sleeves in color 1

1 T-shirt (L) sleeve in color 2

scissors

needle and thread

access to a photo copy machine

printed paper pattern

stuffing

Make it:

1. Print and enlarge the paper pattern. (Increase to 150% to 200% on the photocopy machine.)

2. Use the pattern pieces to cut 20 hexagons from color 1 and 12 pentagons from color 2.

3. Follow the pattern, stitching pentagons and hexagons, with right sides together.

4. Stitch the panel together to create a spherical shape, leaving one seam open.

5. Turn the shape right side out and stuff it through the open seam.

6. Sew the hole closed with a slipstitch, keeping the stitches concealed. Done!

And if you don’t have the patience to stitch your own, check out the balls by Lara Newsom at Handmade Pretties who fashions soccer and basketballs out of scrap jersey, fleece, and sweater material. Accordingly, she has an “undying devotion to recycling and deconstruction”–just check out her sweater and jersey skirts, not to mention the personalized play balls–there are giant ones, too, as seen in ReadyMade!

And don’t forget, long after the matches have ended, the cheers have died down, and the sound of the vuvuzelas have faded, you can still practice in the off-season–no need to wait for the next World Cup!

You have T-shirts transformed into throw pillows, T-shirts into rugs, T-shirts into a quilt for the bed, a tablecloth and napkins for the table–you’ve got every item to furnish a room except for a chair! (And maybe the dresser, but that’s for a future challenge.)

Thanks to Becky Stern at Craft (right, photo by Nathan Rosenquist) and Tiffany Threadgould of RePlayground (with inspiration from Instructables user Seamster) you need look no further! Gather up the materials and follow the video tutorial below with Becky and Tiffany to learn how to make it!

Materials and tools:

• old T-shirts (about 12-18)
• scissors
• pattern paper
• ruler
• protractor
• pencil/pen
• marking chalk
• sewing machine
• thread
• utility knife or serrated bread knife
• cutting mat
• upholstery foam (scrapped from trash furniture, an old mattress, or leftover from another project)
• straight pins
• hand sewing needle

Pillow Chair from Old T-Shirts – CRAFT Video from make magazine on Vimeo.

Let us know how it goes! AND, for a smaller pet version, gather up 4 large T-shirts and check out project #68 “T-shirt’s Pet” in Generation T: Beyond Fashion to make this lovely cushion for your furry best friend: