Upcycled Shirt Peg Bag Tutorial

Hello lovelies! In Spring and Summer there is nothing like the smell of clean, fresh laundry which has been dried by the heat of the sun and a gentle, warm breeze is there? Doing the laundry is definitely not a task I celebrate having to carry out, however I look forward to the days I can hang the washing outside, with the sun on my face and these days have definitely arrived here in the UK!

The upcycled shirt peg bag I made a few years ago has seen better days, so I’ve spent an afternoon making a new one and you can too, with this straightforward tutorial. This upcycling project is cost-effective, using items you may already have at home – a preloved shirt, fabric scraps, buttons and a wooden hanger.

Peg bag done 3

Upcycled Shirt Peg Bag Tutorial

Materials:

Preloved adult shirt

Floral fabric scraps

Fusible webbing (such as Bondaweb)

Spare buttons – optional

Small wooden hanger

Measuring tape or long fabric ruler

Air erasable pen

Needle and thread

Scissors – fabric, small embroidery and paper

Sewing machine

Iron

Method:

Wash, dry and iron the shirt.

Button up the placket front (the middle fastening where the buttons are).

Place pins along this panel, in between the buttons, then remove the top 3 buttons and the neck button. This should be a minimum of 35cm from the base of the collar, inside the shirt.

Peg bag pinned front

From just above the 1st buttonhole (not counting the neck button), using the sewing machine and removing the pins as you go, sew along the existing line of thread down to the 3rd button hole, across the placket and back up the other side, across the placket once again finishing at the starting point. You will have sewn a long rectangle, using the existing thread lines as a guide.

Peg bag machine sew placket

Now turn the shirt inside out and lay it straightened out on a flat surface.

From central points (button holes) along the placket front, measure and make marks using an air erasable pen 16cm either side of this. Join the marks to make 2 straight vertical lines from the top of the shirt. Now measure and make a mark 30cm along each of these lines. Using the ruler, join these 2 marks and then pin inside all 3 lines.

Cut along the 3 lines using fabric scissors, saving the cut-away part of the shirt for other projects (link bunting). You have now created the shape of the peg bag.

Using the sewing machine, sew along the sides and bottom, making a seam 0.5cm from the edge.

Snip the corners, turn the right way round and press with an iron.

Peg bag turned right way round

At this point, you could just sew the buttons back on, pop the hanger in and you’d have a perfectly lovely peg bag, especially if the shirt you were using had it’s own fab pattern. However, if like mine, your shirt needs a little something extra, here is how to embellish it without too much fuss.

For the decoration, cut pieces of fusible webbing slightly smaller than the size of the scraps of fabric and place on the wrong side of the fabric, paper side up (glue side down). For placement, think about the flowers you want to cut out. Press the fusible webbing to the fabric with a hot, dry iron.

Turn the fabric over and cut out the flowers using small embroidery scissors.

Place the fabric flowers onto the shirt, deciding where you want them to be.

Peg bag flower placement 2

Now take each one and remove the paper backing (it helps if you score a line using embroidery scissors to make a tear and peel away the backing) and place back onto the shirt.

Peg bag peeling webbing