Recycling Tees

I have some old tee shirt freebies that are too big, not my style, or just finished tees.  Plus there are other tees left over from tee shirt quilts that I've made for others.  In that case only part of the shirt is used, but I hate the idea of tossing out the rest.  Knit is not cheap.  So, I've been hoarding the left overs for a while, wondering what to do with it all.  Yes, I agree, it's just a matter of time till I'm shame-faced on a popular tv show.

But!  I had an aha moment!  I've begun making shorts for the little granddaughters with the leftover knit.  Since the girls are still small, it doesn't take much in the way of fabric to make a pair of shorts.

Then I remembered that we have a couple of tees from Adam's home improvement business.  It was really easy to turn one tee into a couple pairs of shorts for his little girl.  I can barely wait til she sees them.

The whole process takes very little time.  I cut out and sew the shorts exactly as I would were I using regular knit fabric. Well, I did make one change: I tried to get the whole MHI advertisement on the shorts.  This means that the pattern for the front and back had to be altered just a little, I taped them together along the side seams so that they become one piece.  This, of course, means that there are only two pieces: a right and a left side.

Some of the other tees were left over from an LSU student's quilt. I think Caki and Soph will like their purple and gold shorts.  I decided today that I will add a little girly pocket to the solid color shorts.  I decided to use a color-block design but they are rather boyish looking and that won't do.  So tomorrow I'll get back to these little shorts and add some girly embellishments then finish the others that are waiting.  All together I have nine pairs, giving the girls each three.  Half are done, so it won't take long to finish the other half.

Of course, this is assuming that my tomato interruption is also over--18 pints of canned tomatoes takes an entire afternoon, so I didn't even go into the studio today.  Ripe tomatoes will not wait long, you know.  It's really disappointing to come home ready to sew and find pounds of some veggie sitting on the counter needing attention.  

Last week, corn.  This week, tomatoes.  Next week, okra.  I mean, really?  No wonder I never make as many quilts as I have plans for.  I'm spending an average of two days per week canning or freezing vegetables.  My husband's green thumb is getting in the way of quilting.

Happy Quilting?