Fun Summer Tote

To learn more about ricRACK,

go to ricracknola.com or follow them on social media at @ricracknola. Want to join ricRACK’s Fashion Camp this summer? Alison and her team will be doing lots of fun repurposing fashion projects at the Ogden Museum from July 9-20

• A crew neck t-shirt with an interesting design/saying on the front
• Pair of scissors
• Marker
• Ruler

First, choose a t-shirt, one with a fun pattern or an interesting quote. Remember that the longer and bigger the t-shirt, the bigger your tote will be (in other words, your baby sister’s kids shirt is not going to work for this DIY project).

Step 2 Mark the shoulder seam (where the top of your tote strap will be). We want the tote strap to be about 3 inches wide (you can change this measurement if you prefer narrower or wider straps).

Step 3 Mark at 0 inches and 3 inches on your ruler at the top of both shoulders.

Step 6 Keeping your shirt lying flat, cut along these lines, going through the front AND back of your t-shirt.

Step 8 More bag space = short fringe, less bag space = longer fringe.

Step 9 Let’s go with a 3-inch fringe length.

Step 11 You are now going to cut strips through the front AND back of your t-shirt perpendicular to that line – keep your t-shirt lying flat and cut starting at the bottom of the shirt, and end at the line. Your strips can be ½ inch to 1 inch wide.

Alison’s tip: “We like to keep on hand our ‘Box of Tricks.’ That’s where we keep broken jewelry, missing buttons, fabric scraps, or any fun trim we can use for decorating. Don’t throw your scraps away… they may come in handy one day!”