Sunday, June 14, 2009

HOW TO: Make a child's t-shirt into a peg bag

There are a very few things more satisfying than hanging all your laundry out on the line on a warm summer's day...Your clothes smell fresh, and you save the environment (just a bit!) by not running five loads through the tumble dryer!

Uh, however, if you're like me, you need about a million clothes pegs, hence the "peg bag". You're welcome to buy one from Cath Kidston for a tenner, if you so desire, but an easier and more fun thing to do is to convert an old child's tee (one of your children's own, or a neighbour's!)...It costs next to nothing and can be sorted in about an hour.
What you'll need:
  1. A child's t-shirt. Any size from about 2 to 4 will be right.
  2. A small hanger. This may have come with the t-shirt, or something else...I find that the ones that come with adult swimsuit tops are quite good!
  3. Some stuff you have lying around the house.
I have to be intentionally vague on the third one, because there are a number of different ways to accomplish the same thing!

There are two parts to creating a peg bag from a t-shirt:
  1. You have to close up the bottom of the tee.
  2. You have to create a hole to put the pegs in.
That's really it...And how you get there is up to you.

The first time I made one, all I did was to run the bottom of the shirt through the sewing machine and make a slice across the chest.

The peg bag you see in the picture is crocheted shut with a very small-gauge hook and some crochet thread, and detailed with a picot stitch! I did the same on the hole for the pegs, partially to match the bottom, and partially to prevent the opening from fraying.

The final part is to hang the t-shirt up on the hanger, et voila! You've got a nifty, cheap peg bag, and you also find a use for those old t-shirts you love, can't throw away, but just can't justify keeping around :)

noisypitta.etsy.com

What I've been up to...For the last couple months!

Oooooh, I'm a baaad blogger. I hope I haven't let any of you down by not posting in so long!

The truth is, I've gone a little ADHD, craftily speaking. Over the last several months, I've crocheted a jumper, learned to knit (well, learned to stocking stitch!) and, most recently, made a peg bag out of one of my son's old t-shirts!

Unfortunately, I've been having camera, uh, issues. Ones that culminated in my hubby finally getting fed up and going out to buy a new one, which will arrive this week. And then it'll be piccies galore, you just wait :)

noisypitta.etsy.com