MIY Monday: T-Shirt Recyling

Happy Monday all. In exactly one week I will be returning to classes! Yikes! But in the mean time, I want to share a quick crafty thing I did this weekend for my MIY Monday.

My MIY Mondays's Mission is share creative, innovative, fun and (hopefully) cheap ideas and projects for you home and life, as well as healthy and (hopefully) cheaper alternatives to everyday cooking, shopping and eating out. I hope you will join in my on my mission!

This past Friday I was thinking about how I had some old Relay For Life shirts I would never wear, since they were faded an no longer my size. A guy I work with had turned some old shirts into wall art, so I figured why not try it?

He told me he had used styrofoam and glue, and as much as that idea appealed to me, I couldn't bring myself to actually glue the shirts down.... and I didn't have any styrofoam or foamcore laying around, nor did I have the funds to go buy any.  So I settled for the box to my new TV. Not as archival (won't last as long) but will do for now.

Upon deliberation, I settled on a size that would fit all four of the shirts (16 by 14) and went to work with my amazing box cutter knife. They didn't turn out completely straight, but the bulkyness of the shirts hides that fact.

For the first shirt, I decided to cut it up and wrap it around the cardboard. It worked out ok, except the shirt is thin enough to see a bit of brown underneath and I also cut it a bit off.

If I didn't want to use glue, than what should I use? That was a very tough question, finally settled with packaging tape. Like I said before, this was definitely more of a temporary solution until I have more funds. I wrapped the cut shirt around a piece of cardboard and taped it down with LOTS of packaging tape. :)

Shirt 1

As you can see below, after doing the first I realized that I shouldn't cut the shirts up, just fold the whole thing around the cardboard. This prevents the cardboard from showing through and also allows me to remove them later if I decide to do something else.

Shirt 2

Upon completion of all folding, I attached a smaller piece of cardboard to the back to keep the shirt tight and secure (no photo...) and then moved on to the next one. Below are all four shirts. Overall, I am happy with what results; They don't really look that bad, and are going to be easy to take apart if I decide I want to re-do them more permanently.

So how do you hang these? That is a good question even I don't have an answer to, as they are still sitting on my floor. I tried to attach a panel of cardboard with fishing line and hang from hooks, but after attempting to hang them, they just fell off, the fishing line coming undone. I am thinking this is a job for those amazing Command picture hanging strips, but I am out right now. So when I get to the store next I shall pick some up and share with you my t-shirt wall. 

Hanging Device? Fail

I really do think when I have a bit of extra money I will try to make these more legit and permanent, such as this.

On the knitting front this week, I have 3-4 projects on the needles right now, but most will be off by the end of the week, as they are for designs I am writing up. I think I am going to submit my hat to Knitty, so wish me luck!

Want to join in MIY Mondays? Take the banner and post your site here, even if it isn't on a Monday, any DIY post will work :) Also, if I come across any DIY blogs, I may link them back here. I hope that's ok with the writers!

~Lisa

YES!