Thursday, July 25, 2013

Upcycling Men's Shirts





Let's face it, except for Hawaiian shirts, (which make great pillow covers) and the ilk, mens' shirts can be pretty boring. I have a bunch of them and need to do something with them. Most of them are missing buttons or stained, pretty much unusable as shirts. I had bought them at a thrift shop steeply discounted, even by thrift shop terms, because nobody was buying them







 I was (and am still considering it) going to try to make a skirt out of a bunch of coordinated shirts. Then the idea struck me that I could use some of the scraps to make my Christmas Gift Tie-ons in the shape of a tree.  That wasn't going to use up very much and then it hit me. (It hurt, too).








I could cut out tree shapes and applique them onto the front and backs of other shirts and make these great looking pillow covers. They're not just for Christmas either, they can be used year round if you want!










I have a ton of other ideas, too. I'm working on some fish swimming across the pillow, flowers (I have one with tulips cut out) other tree "styles" and more. I'm also thinking of making some gift bags like these so I can use up some of the smaller pieces.

What else can I do with these shirts? What other applique shapes should I try? What else can I applique trees on? Leave comments below if you have any ideas!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Fabulous idea! I'm all for upcycling and this is a very creative idea. The check design looks great as a Christmas tree.

Crafty Green Poet said...

These look great and what a brilliant upcycling idea. You could also make kitchen aprons, perhaps

Nalin said...

This is cool! I really like the combination of the patterns you used together.

CrystalMoonCat said...

Super idea. What about putting some little owl appliques on top of your trees? Or add little round ornaments for Christmas - these would use up your smaller scraps.

Linda (CrystalMoonCat from Golden Threads) xx