Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Sing a Song of T-shirts!

Piles of tshirts
The Piles of Tshirts in my Studio

I don't know why I keep wanting to sing songs at you, especially since you can't really hear me. But here's another one anyway:
(to the tune of What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor)
What do you do with a million tshirts?
What do you do with a million tshirts?
What do you do with a million tshirts -
Early in the morning?


I'll admit, that one wasn't so original, but I have it stuck in my head! And we all know the only way to get it out is to get it stuck in someone else's head, or exorcise it with the power of The Final Countdown.

So! As you can tell I have a great deal of discarded tshirts ready to be made into things. The reason: they usually have something cool on them we want to cut out and keep (such as The Pixies tour tshirt) - which gives me the rest of the shirt to "do something with".

My dilemma is that there really aren't that many interesting projects for tshirts, unless you want to make them into a different kind of tshirt. I think the other options are
- bag
- scarf
- quilt
- pillow
None of these really appeal to me.

Lenuta (vampire matroyshka) and Spot (kitty)Lenuta & Spot

So far, the only thing I've done is make stuffed animals. But I'm thinking of making some underpants, and maybe a scarf or two?

It's hard having this much raw material and only a few notions of what to do with it. Expect a lot of art/crafts made from tshirts in the coming weeks!

If there are any cool tshirt projects you can think of (that don't involve knitting/crocheting) then please post them! Pretty please!

3 comments:

Amy, Library Maven said...

Not super original, but I'm planning on making our own UglyDolls with the teens at the library next summer, and we'll probably use t-shirt fabric (as I can get it for cheapest).

http://cartoon-fabrics.com/MakeanUglyDoll
or
http://www.squidoo.com/makeuglydolls

P.S. Your blog makes me happy!

Amy, Library Maven said...

Also - can't believe I forgot to mention this, but see if the library has these books - we do, and have found lots of cool crafts in them:

http://www.amazon.com/Generation-T-Ways-Transform-T-Shirt/dp/0761137858/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257432454&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Generation-Beyond-Fashion-Transform-T-shirt/dp/0761154108/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257432454&sr=8-2

They have things such as little arm cuffs, ipod cozies, clothes, purses, etc...

Leah Riley said...

Oo! Thanks Amy!

I have this book that is coming in super useful:
Aranzi Aronzo's Cute Dolls (Let's Make Cute Stuff)
http://tinyurl.com/ybu88qw

I love the idea of making plushies/stuffies/whatever-we-call-them at the library! Tell me if you need an assistant!