Upcycled Shirt Sleeve Button Bag

I saw a list on Pinterest of baby games that were appropriate for each month of baby's first year. Joshua is already 10 months old, so I'm a little late, but I skipped to his part of the list and read about a "button bag" game. The idea is simple enough. Put REALLY big buttons (note: small buttons are a chocking hazard) into a bag. A younger baby will enjoy putting items in the bag and pulling them out. Eventually, an older toddler will enjoy sorting and counting the buttons.

Neat idea, but i wasn't planning on making one today. But then we ended up in the studio this morning because Lydia wanted to craft something. And I was wearing Joshua in the Moby wrap because he still has an ear infection and feels crummy. I was just hoping to clean up a little while Lydia played around when an old t-shirt caught my eye. The shape of sleeve made me think of the button bag game idea.

All I had to do was sew the sleeve shut at the cut edge where it used to join with the shirt. I now had a sleeve sized bag!

Adding a drawstring was as simple as cutting a little hole in the seam at the top of the bag, the part of the sleeve that was once the edge. I needed to be careful not to cut all the way through, but other than that it was easy!

Then I ran a ribbon through the sleeve hem casing and I had my draw string bag!

Three simple steps, a few buttons from my stash, a project so easy that I could finish it even with a cranky baby strapped to my chest!

I think the cranky baby approves!