How to Make a Tote Bag From a T-shirt (no sew tote bag)

I’ve got a great tutorial for a no sew tote bag made from a T-shirt to share today. It’s a great upcycling craft for all ages!

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Save this bag from a t-shirt project for later by pinning here ==>>

Do you have a bunch of unloved or outgrown knit t-shirts lying around? If so, I have a fun and earth-friendly upcycling project to share with you today. These no-sew tote bags are perfect to use at the farmer’s market or even as fun little tote bags for kids! (We used ours all summer long for sleepovers and to carry around stuffed animals and toys.)

They are so easy to make- a perfect rainy day craft to keep an elementary-aged (and up) busy!

Materials needed to make a no-sew bag from a t-shirt:

Knit shirt
Scissors
Pencil or chalk

Seriously, that is all that’s needed!

The perfect little craft to keep the kids busy during summer break or a rainy day.

How to Make a No Sew Tote Bag:

Materials needed to make the bag:

Knit shirt
Scissors
Pencil or chalk

Instructions:

Step 1: Lay your t-shirt on a flat surface and smooth out all the wrinkles.

Determine the best spots to cut around the neckline and sleeves. Measure down how deep you want your t-shirt tote bag to be. Measure 3 more inches and mark this spot.

Step 2: Cut the bottom of the t-shirt off at the marked spot.

Step 3: Cut around the neckline and sleeves. (You want to leave about 3 inches at the shoulder seam if possible- this becomes the strap of the tote and you don’t want it too flimsy.)

Step 4: Keep the bottom of the t-shirt lined up and cut the bottom of the shirt into 3/4 to 1 inch wide by 2 inches tall, “fringe.” Be sure to cut the front and back at the same time, so your ties will be even.

Cut the very first and last fringe piece at the side seam to create 2 pieces of fringe.

Step 5: Flip the t-shirt wrong side out and start tying the front and back fringe pieces together.

Once all the fringe strips are tied together, you will notice the bag has small holes where you tied the fringe together.

To close the small holes, tie together the fringe strips on each side of the hole. Keep doing this until every strip is double tied. (If you don’t think you will be carrying anything so small as to fall through the holes, you could skip this step.)