Mister Rogers Tote Bag

Are you ready for some more t-shirt crafting fun?

I was lucky enough to find this Mister Rogers t-shirt for $1. How awesome is that! Lets make a tote bag out of it. Come on neighbor (if you remember the song, sing along with me).

First I folded the shirt in half. Then I cut a straight line through the layers to remove the sleeves. You can use the sleeves to make an outside pocket for your bag. Look at my Minnie Mouse purse that I made in May or June of 2009.

Then I unfolded the shirt and refolded it from side to side. Then I cut off the collar. Now you have 2 rectangles (the front and the back of the shirt).

Measure your cut t-shirt. I thought that this fabric would make a good lining for my bag. It is left over from a quilt that I made a few years ago. I cut 2 pieces of it the same size as the cut t-shirt.

Then I used a hem stitch and sewed the 2 sides and the bottom of the shirt together, right sides facing each other. This part is a little hard to explain. I laid the bottom so that it's seam was centered and flat. Then I drew a 3 inch line in from each side / corner, and stitched over that line. This enabled the bag to lay flat when filled with things. There is a picture of this further down with the lining.

I turned the shirt right sides out. You can see the bottom of the bag in the picture.

I did the same thing with the lining. Here you can see what I was talking about.

I left about a 3 inch hole in the center of the bottom of the lining. This is so that I can sew it to the bag then turn it right sides out.

I forgot to take a picture of the next step. Place your t-shirt bag, right side out, inside of your lining bag, wrong side out. The 2 right sides should be facing each other. Then sew the two together at the top. Then using that 3 inch gap that you left in the bottom of the lining, pull the fabric out and turn it right sides out. It should look like the above picture. Then sew that hole closed.

Next put the lining inside of your bag.

I then cut 2 strips of fabric the width and length that I wanted for the handles. Make sure you add seam allowance to it. Then I sewed it like the hem on a pair of jeans so that I would not have to bother with turning a tube inside out, and there would not be a raw edge showing.

Then I pinned the handles in place and sewed around the whole top edge of the bag. I wanted a little bit of the lining showing at the top.

I love it! What a great tote bag that reminds me of my childhood.

Here is what it looks like opened. My husband asked if I was going to sell it. Nope! This is for me. If I had found 2 of these shirts, then yes. I'm looking forward to using it and showing it off.