How to Make Decorative Colored Balls by Discarded T-Shirts?

Tons of  T-shirts will be thrown by consumers each year.  In order to put the environmental protection issue into practice, why not make some other items via these discarded T-shirts?  Here is a tutorial, on making DIY decorative colored balls with recycled t-shirt fabric.  Get out the old Red, White and Blue T-shirts for a 4th of July decoration.  These decorative balls are easy enough for summer project for the kids.

First of all, take a look at the finished look. Think of all the different color combinations you could coordinate together for different projects for holidays, graduations, bridal showers and birthday parties.

Step 1:  Pick out some unused t-shirts from your wardrobe.  I used three different colors.

Step 2:  Find two pieces of cardboard. Referring to the size, it totally depends on you. Cut them into this shape.

Step 3:  Cut t-shirts fabric into strips about 1/2″ wide or thinner if you like.

Step 4:  Put one stripe onto the cardboard. It will be used to tie the ball together when you finish wrapping the strips around the card board.  Just make sure to use a match the color strips on the ball.

Step 5:  Place the other piece of cardboard onto the stripe.  See photo,  the cloth stripe is placed between two pieces of cardboard now.

Step 6:  It’s time to wrap the strips of T-shirt fabric onto the cardboard.  Just wrap from one outer the edge of the card board and continue to the other side.

Step 7:  This photo shows how to wrap the fabric strips.   We suggest to wrap the T-shirt fabric strips snug and tight for fullness.   This will create a plump T-shirt fabric ball.

Step 8:  This is what the card board will look like when the entire card board is covered by cloth strips.

Step 9:  Then, tie the strip placed between the paper boards, pull tightly but do not knot at this time.

Step 10:  Now, cut the outer edge of the wrap T-shirt fabric strips with your scissors.

Step 11:  This is what the T-shirt fabric strips looks like when you have cut around the entire cardboard.

Step 12:  Now, you can tie the middle cloth strip with a tight knot.

Step 13:  To finish the edge of the ball, cut off the uneven thread ends to make it smooth.

Step 14:  Ttake off both card boards,  the decorative ball is finished.  Here are three color coordinated balls made from recycled T-shirt fabric strips.  Hang together with ribbon for a decorative accent.

Author bio: Katherine writes for a cosplay shop. To find more tutorials, visit Miccostumes.com/Blog directly.