Many of us have an old t-shirt or several that we no longer wear and are taking up space in our drawers or closet. These of course could be taken to a local clothing recycling bin (if you have those in your area) or you could turn your old t-shirt into a usable upcycled t-shirt sachet. This project is a great way to be sustainable and instead of trashing something you no longer wear you can upcycle it into a functional product.
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Supplies Needed for Upcycled T-Shirt Sachet
- old t-shirt (could be any size)
- rotary cutter
- scissors
- acrylic fabric ruler
- rice (any kind will work)
- Lavender essential oil (or any scent you prefer)
- Dried lavender flowers
The t-shirt I chose for this project is one I made years ago for a race I was doing with a couple of my friends from work. This shirt no longer fits me so it this was a great way to make something new. I decided to make scented drawer sachets. If you are wondering what a sachet might be, this is a small pouch that normally contains rice or dried flowers or potpourri that is scented and placed in a clothing or tableware drawer to make the clothes smell good.
The first step was to lay out the t-shirt on my cutting board so that it was flat and smooth. (I didn’t want to pull out my iron so I just smoothed this down with my hands).
I cut the t-shirt in 5″ sections from the bottom of the hem to the top of the shirt, cutting both layers of the t-shirt at a time.
Once these strips were cut in a straight line I then laid these lengthwise and cut them into 4″ sections, again leaving both the front and back of the t-shirt together so that I was cutting the two layers at once.
What to Do with Scrap T-Shirt Pieces
I made sure to use as much of the t-shirt as I could to create these rectangles to sew together for sachets. With the remaining pieces (the t-shirt sleeves) I turned them into “yarn” to use to tie the sachets when they had been sewn together and filled with rice.
To make the t-shirt yarn I cut the scraps into a spiral design so that I had one continuous piece of yarn that could be cut into pieces when needed.
Assembly of Upcycled T-Shirt Sachet
When starting the assembly of the sachets you will want to turn the t-shirt pieces inside out depending on if your t-shirt has a pattern.
Then use a sewing machine to sew about a 1/4″ seam allowance. I used black thread because I was being lazy and that was what was already in my sewing machine. You will want to leave one edge open as this will be the edge you add in the rice and essential oils (if using). After sewing straight lines along three edges I then clipped the sewn corners while it was still inside out. This helps when you turn in right side out so that the inside is not bunched by the fabric.
Now comes the fun part! I used rice that I had on hand (any rice will work) and filled the sachet with about 1/4 cup of rice. In one of the sachets I added lavender essential oil, I did about six drops but you could do as many as you would like depending on the strength of the scent you would like. One of the other sachets I filled with a combination of rice and dried lavender flowers. The last sachet I filled with just the dried lavender flowers.
The sachets with the rice are more robust and therefore I prefer the ones with the rice but this is just personal preference. And you can use any essential oils that you like, I think other great scents would be lemon, lime, grapefruit, or any masculine scents would work too. I then used some of the t-shirt yarn that I made to tie the tops of each sachet.
The sachets are now ready to use! I placed these in a drawer that contains tablecloths. place mats and seasonal towels. These can also be placed in clothing drawers as well.
Using t-shirts to upcycle for everyday products is a great idea to help keep clothes out of landfills. T-shirts could also be upcycled into a tote bag, reusable bag for the grocery store, or any type of small bag which are all creative ways to re-use an everyday object that most of us already have.
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