The Green League is known for its recycled craft events, and you may have seen club members tabling with some of their most recent projects. Club members gather to make jewelry out of found and recycled items like plastic bags, stones, soda can tabs and guitar strings to help fundraise for their club’s efforts.
The project was reminiscent of a summer camp activity, and Anderson explained how she used to make the bags with her grandmother in the summertime. Her grandmother shares how to craft t-shirt totes with nursing home residents and because it is an easy concept, Anderson thought the activity would also translate well to a college campus.
The club aims to inspire students to repurpose old items to eliminate waste through their craft events, and they are beginning to do more as interest grows.
This specific no-sew tote serves multiple sustainable purposes. The reusable bag not only keeps clothing out of landfills, but grocery bags too.
Materials needed:
- An old T-shirt: the thicker the fabric, the sturdier the bag
- Scissors
- Marker
Directions:
1. First, cut off the sleeves of the tee. These holes will serve as the handles for the tote.
2. Mark around the neck of the shirt in a U-shape to determine how long you want your handles to be and how deep you want your bag to go.
3. The bottom of the bag will be made from tied pieces of fringe. Determine how deep you’d like the bag to be and mark this line across the bottom of the shirt. This should be at least 2 inches from the bottom of the shirt.
4. Adjust as needed and cut out the marked neck.
5. If you would like the fringe to be outside the bag, leave the shirt as is. If you would like the fringe to be inside the bag, turn your shirt inside out.
6. Cut fringe out of the bottom of the shirt, making sure to go through both layers of the shirt and keeping the pieces wide enough to be durable.
7. Tie knots from the strands of fringe on the opposite side to form the bottom of the bag.
8. The bag is now ready to go on all your adventures with you.
Instructions courtesy of Mavis Anderson, president of Shippensburg University’s Green League.
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