Refuse Reuse Reduce Recycle

There are many different ways you can refuse, reuse, reduce and recycle at home.

By simply re-purposing old and forgotten items, you can give life to these items. For example, old credit cards can be turned into guitar picks and left over toilet paper rolls can help organize your drawers. If you are creative enough, you can reuse everything!

If you are curious on how to make a reusable bag by refusing to by a new one and recycling an old shirt, below is a list of steps on how you can build a reusable t-shirt bag at home.

Creating a “No-Sew Shirt Bag” is a fun activity suitable for everyone to enjoy. This bag is perfect to bring everywhere as it stores easily. It is quite durable and is easily clean. The “No-Sew Shirt Bag” is also perfect to bring to the farmers market, carry your books, and what the heck! Even just to keep in your car at all times - you never know when you will need a bag.

By creating this bag, you are reusing and recycling old and forgotten clothing, refusing to buy new and overall reducing your single-use plastic bag intake.

All you will need:

An old shirt
A pair of scissors
Markers (optional for decoration)

By clicking through the slide show below, you can see up close on how exactly the “No-Sew Shirt Bag” is made.

Step 1

Cut out the sleeves and the neck hole of the shirt. This will serve as the opening and handles to your bag.

You can personalize how big you want your openings to be. Don’t cut too much though, otherwise you will have very little room to put things in.

Step 2

Begin to cut the fringe when you are satisfied with the openings of your bag.

Make sure your fringe is long enough to tie twice. The length of the fringe can determine how big the bag is. For example if your fringe is really long, you will have a smaller bag.

Pro Tip: Make sure you cute the end fringe in half. That way you can tie your first knot together.

Step 3

To begin making the bottom of your bag, make a knot, left fringe over right fringe.

Step 3

Make another knot, right fringe over left fringe.

Pro Tip: By tying a double knot in different ways, it will help make sure that your bag won’t untie in the future.

Step 3

Finish knotting the rest of the shirt. Make sure you tie them tight! you don’t want anything falling out.

Step 4

To make sure nothing falls out of the bag, make a second row of knots. You will do this by taking one strand from one knot (orange) and tie it to a strand from the next knot (blue).

Step 4

Make sure the new not is tight. Complete the rest of the row until you finish.

Step 5 (Optional)

Viola! You made your very own “No-Sew Shirt Bag”

Here comes the fun part, decorate your shirt bag the way you like it! Take markers and draw your favorite things. You can even cute the fringe below to make it into a fun pattern (be careful not to cut the pretty knots you made.

For a different look trying flipping the shirt inwards next time either before or after you complete the steps. This is if you prefer to have the fringe inwards.

Great job!

Refuse Reuse Reduce Recycle

P.O.W.E.R.