DIY Backpack

With a little ingenuity and basic sewing skills, you can make your own backpack. A soft and lightweight backpack can quickly and easily be made from a T-shirt. This allows you to frugally recycle an old shirt that may be stained or no longer worn. Once it is completed, you will have a very useful piece of equipment to use for hiking or camping.

Things You'll Need

  • T-shirt
  • Needle
  • Thread
  • Scissors
  • 3/8-inch grommets, 4
  • Grommet pliers
  • 3-foot sections of ¼-inch thick rope, 3
  • Ruler
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Use the scissors to cut the sleeves off of the shirt. Then use the needle and thread to sew shut the sleeve holes.

    • 2

      Use the needle and thread to sew closed the bottom of the shirt.

    • 3

      Use the ruler to fold the collar of the shirt ½ inch down, making a hem all the way around. Then use the needle and thread to sew this hem down. Now thread one of the 3-foot sections of the ¼-inch rope through the hem that you just sewed. Leave a section open as you make the hem to allow you to thread the rope through the hem. After threading the rope through the hem, tie a large knot in each end of the rope to keep it from coming out of the hem.

    • 4

      Use the grommet pliers to place a grommet at each corner of the bottom of the shirt bag. Then use the pliers to place a grommet at each corner where the sleeves of the shirt were. This completes the bag for the backpack.

    • 5

      Thread each end of a 3-foot long, ¼-inch thick rope through the grommets on each side of the bag. This places a shoulder straps on each side. Once the ropes are threaded through the grommets, tie a large knot in each end of each of the ropes to secure the backpack's shoulder straps to the backpack. This completes the backpack.