Teen Cafe - T-Shirt Redesign (or) See, I Knew I Was Saving That for a Reason!

We don't usually blog about events before they happen, but we are hoping to snag a few more ideas from our brilliant readers:) Since Miss Ami is, as they used to say, in a delicate condition, and may or may not be around for the latter half of Summer Reading, we are trying to prepare as much as possible beforehand. This particular program is slated for the end of July - just don't ask us what's for supper tonight, 'kay?

The general plan is to provide ideas and supplies for teens to redecorate/redesign/repurpose old t-shirts. Because many of the regulars to Teen Cafe are also SRP Volunteers, and they have a whole stash of shirts from previous years, and because we also had a stash of SRP shirts that were never picked up last year, those are what you will see featured here. We are mostly looking for no-sew ideas, as the idea of supplying 30 or so sewing machines doesn't seem too feasible.

First, because Miss Ami was a child of the 80's, we have this one:

You can also fringe the sleeves.

Another very simple one - wear a different color tank under it. We may cut more slits around the collar. If you are better at cutting than we are (no opposable thumbs, remember!) you can try cutting shapes instead of just slits.

A necklace/scarf made by cutting horizontal stripes about 1" thick and then pulling them tight to make them roll up. We connected them with a strip cut from the bottom, but we're not sure how to describe the loop-and tuck method...you can just hot glue the ends if you like!

These two are made from the same shirt. For the necklace (or belt) we cut off the bottom hem, then cut around and around so we had one long continuous strand about 1" thick. We cut that into thirds and braided them, then added chunky wood beads that have been sitting around forever.

We didn't want to waste the top picture, so we used fabric glue to attach it to posterboard, then added jewels and glitter. This would be fun to do with a t-shirt that had a funny saying, or a favorite rock band on it. We are trying to find our scrap cork board to make a bulletin board this way.

This is the one that started the whole project. Miss Ami (when she is not fat) and Miss Lisa both like 'skinny shirts', but the SRP shirts always come in 'boy cuts'. Just cut an inch or so off each side, make some slits, and voila! You can lace it or tie it - yes, both look kind of weird together, and the pretty ribbons don't exactly match the shark motif, but you get the idea. Wouldn't those bright yellow shirts for this year's theme look awesome with yellow and red ribbons?

We had seen ideas for shopping bags that required sewing the bottom, but then Karl from Tulsa sent us this idea - just fringe and tie the bottom. That looks even sturdier than sewing. Use strips from the sleeves as added handles. We left the hem on, but you can cut that off and add pony beads to the bottom. 

That gave us an idea for a pillow we wouldn't have to sew, either. We did 'cheat' and hot glue the neckline, but that would be pretty easy to hand sew. Again, we left the hems, but you could take those off and add beads.

Most of these only took a few minutes - the braiding took forever because we kept getting tangled! (Thumbs!!!) Thanks to everyone who sent ideas and web sites to check out - now, what else have you got for us???