DIY T-Shirt Plant Hanger

So we have a huge garden growing outside.. and with apartment living it's hard to find space for all of our potted plants! We have been hanging some that came in a hanging basket, but I wanted to find a way to create a DIY hanger for some of the other potted plants we have. Better than just finding a tutorial for making one out of store bought macrame or lanyard, I found the perfect step by step instructions to make one out of an old T-shirt! Because I love recycling/upcycling old unused items, this is an eco-friendly way to get ready for the spring and summer weather by doing some spring cleaning in your closet AND sporting your plants inside or out in a truly fashionable way. Plus I promise that this project is much easier than it looks! If you don't have plants yet, go and get yourself a nice plant to hang in a plant hanger because not only are plants beautiful, but they help make the air cleaner for you to breathe and help lift your mood and spirit. Just don't forget to water them and hang in a spot that gets enough sunlight.

Below are my step by step instructions (I changed a few things from the original tutorial after doing it a few times myself, and changed the order of cutting in the beginning a bit to save some time). I made pictures of my own but I give full credit of this idea to Walk in Love which is where I got the idea from. The more old T-shirts you got, the better... because you can make a ton of these and hang a bunch of plants! Once I hang all of the ones I made outside I'll take a picture to show how a bunch of them look together. It's also a good way to keep your memories associated with those T-shirts because you'll still technically have them, but just repurposed them for a better use!

Materials Needed:

- Old T-shirt

- Scissors 

Instructions:

1. Lay your T-shirt out flat

2. Cut off the top third of the shirt by cutting 

horizontally from one underarm to the other 

(essentially creating a "cropped-top")

(Remove the top portion, as we will only be using the bottom 

portion for this craft. Feel free to utilize the top portion for another 

DIY project.. such as the dog rope toy below I made out of mine by literally 

just tying knots in it and it only took about a minute!)

Anyway, back to our plant hanger!

3. Take the bottom portion and cut down the side of the shirt, creating 

a large long rectangle now instead of a thick "infinity loop" of fabric.

4. Keeping the material folded over, 

make another cut right down the middle 

of the material horizontally 

(perpendicular to the last cut you made).

4. Put the two halves on top of each other (still folded over) and make 

another cut, so you end up with four pieces of material instead of two.

5. Next, cut your materials in half again, creating eight pieces total.

6. Take each strip of fabric and stretch it out, lengthening it and allowing it 

to curl over a bit to create long fabric pieces of "rope"

7. Collect the eight ropes in your hand and make a knot at the end of them as a group.

8. Lay the knot down and separate the ropes in groups of two.

9. Make a knot out of each set of ropes about two inches away from your main knot.

10. Taking the two ropes that are closest to 

each other from here, repeat the process of pairing two ropes 

and knotting them together about two inches away 

until you have an additional four knots.

11. If you're making a plant hanger for a larger pot, repeat step 10. If the plant is not that big (most hanging plants), do not repeat step 10 and proceed to step 12.

12. Twist together each pair of ropes (optional) and tie 

all of the ropes together at the top. Try to prevent all the ropes 

from getting twisted with each other or your plant will always twirl a bit. 

Below is what your plant holder will look like if you made an 

extra layer of knots for a larger pot. It works better for pots 

that are taller and wider.

Below is what your plant holder will look like if you skipped step 11 

(recommended for most average sized plants). 

The top of your plant holder should just be a knot holding all 

the ropes together, and if you want you can make an additional loop to 

hang it. If not, you can just hang the large knot from a sturdy ceiling hook.

Enjoy.. and happy planting and upcycling for spring! 

Please share with all your family and friends :)