It’s the problem that dare not speak its name — I don’t know about you, but I have a captive breeding program going on in one of my drawers. It seems that every time I open it, there is yet another t-shirt I have forgotten I own. Add to that the fact that my son seems to go up a clothing size every week, and my husband refuses to throw out any item of clothing he has ever owned, and what you have is a mass of t-shirtery threatening to take over your home. Or your cupboards at the very least.
When I was a kid, there was a two-part solution to the t-shirt problem: shirts that had not totally disintegrated were ‘yard shirts’ — shirts you wore when you were doing chores outside. Those that barely resembled clothing any more went in the ‘rag bag’. Well, I no longer to chores outside, and the rag bag in this house is already full of discarded pieces of clothing. The community minded thing to do would be donate them to a charity shop, but I am not sure I am quite ready to part with my all-time favourite Super Grover shirt, despite the scary stains. And how could I give away my Nagano Winter Olympics souvenir shirt with the cute cartoon ’snowlets’ on the front, especially considering I never actually went to the Winter Olympics? Despairing, I turned to the Internet for help. What was I to do with this surfeit of t-shirts?
Thankfully, the Internet is chock-a-block with fantastic ways to recycle your t-shirts. And many of them are especially relevant to households with small children.
One of the most appealing ideas is a t-shirt quilt. This seems to be a popular use for old t-shirts, but considering how popular quilting is in general I am not surprised. Of course my sewing skills are at the ‘very basic’ end of the spectrum, but if you have some ability with a sewing machine you should be able to turn your t-shirts into a nice bedspread. If you can’t sew, you can always contact your local quilt shop and ask if they have someone who will do it for you for a fee. Or you should try to organise it so you have the good luck to have a mother who is an ace quilter who is willing to undertake this project for you. Mum, if you are reading, I have quite a few t-shirts now…
If your sewing skills are not quite up to quilting but you want to try something for yourself, never fear. There are plenty of options for using t-shirts that require a minimum of sewing ability. 
You could always turn them into pre-fold nappies or bags to hold your existing nappies. If you still have some t-shirts left over after that, there are some fantastic blogs out there showing you how to make clothing for toddlers including instructions on how to make some cute dresses and pants. 
Be warned — some of these ideas are so cute you will be eying off perfectly good t-shirts as potential dresses for the little girls in your life. If you are feeling a little more risqué, you can always turn your old t-shirts into underwear.
Of course, if you can’t sew at all, there are still uses for your old t-shirts other than dusting cloths. If they are particularly funky, why not stretch them across needlepoint frames 
or canvas squares and turn them into a work of art? If you know how to crochet, cut them into a long strip and crochet them into a rug. Cover your pillows with them (slide pillow inside t-shirt, pin extra material to the back or tie excess fabric into knots), or use them as car seat covers if you have bucket style seats. T-shirts can also make surprisingly good (and soft) towels for your face and hair. I can’t think of anything more cheering than washing my face in the morning with Super Grover’s smiling face. Maybe I have finally found the answer to the question of how to get a reluctant four year old to wash his face in the morning! And all thanks to t-shirts!
How do you use your old t-shirts? Babblebaby would love to receive your suggestions for what to do with t-shirts that you may no longer want to wear but are not quite ready to
consign to the charity bin.
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