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Making Memory Ornaments with Clothing

Keep past Christmases with you always with beautiful keepsake memory ornaments. We want to teach you how to make these lovely keepsake ornaments using old clothing, which will keep the precious memories long lasting.

Two images showing supplies needed and then completed memory ornaments made from clothes of loved ones.

Repurposed Shirt Memory Ornaments – A Great Keepsake Ornament

If you are looking to create keepsake ornaments, this is a wonderful place to start. Many of us have clothes from loved ones that we cannot part with, whatever the reason may be. This is a great way to honor someone or preserve someone’s memory while upcycling in a special and thoughtful way.

I found that this makes a great gift too. If you purchase the materials in bulk, you can take one shirt and make multiple memory ornaments, and gift them out to multiple family members or multiple loved ones.

The wonderful thing about this is you can make them any time of year and gift them. We know that there are a lot of us that will look for memorable ornaments year-round, and there is nothing more memorable than a homemade ornament that is also a keepsake.

Join our crafting community to find more nature-inspired DIYs and upcycled craft ideas. It feels good to repurpose, upcycle and create with nature!

Materials Needed for these Memory Ornaments:

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  • Woven button-up shirt
  • Large canning jar lid and screw band

How to make keepsake ornaments with this repurposed shirt:

We’re happy to provide the step-by-step video here and photo instructions below to make this beautiful memory ornament to treasure for a lifetime. Let us know in the comments if you have questions about any step!

YouTube video

Place and center the lid over the top of the placket on the button-up shirt. Trace the lid with a pen, chalk, or wax.

Cut out the circle and glue the overlapping placket together with the hot glue gun.

Place and glue the circle onto the lid and put it aside for time being.

Use the screw band to trace another circle out of the shirt. Cut the circle out larger than the size of the screw band to have enough fabric to overlap the edges.

Place the covered lid into the screw band and glue it in place.

Use the other circle cut out to cover the back side of the ornament. Fold the edges over the band and glue them in place. Trim the excess if it extends past the top of the screw band.

Cut three long strands of twine. Secure one end and braid the three strands together. You’ll need the braid long enough to wrap around the perimeter of the ornament and to create a 4-5” long hanging loop.

Glue the braided twine around the covered screw band forming a large loop for hanging at the top.

Wrap and tie another piece of twine around the base of the loop and attach a charm as well if you have one.

Lastly, glue some faux greenery to the top of the ornament on either side of the hanging loop.

This image shows the back side of the completed memory ornament, as you can see it’s neat and tidy!

Close up images of the front and back sides of the completed memory ornaments from clothes.
showing the back side of the ornament

How did your new keepsake ornament turn out? Make sure to show it off to us! Tag us on Facebook or Instagram– we can’t wait to see it!

More Thoughtful Keepsake Craft Ideas

No matter the occasion or time of year, we have plenty of ideas for making one-of-a-kind keepsake crafts and gifts including memory bear sewing patterns, adorable memory bunny, engraved slate coaster and the ideas below:

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Collage of images with text overlay reading making keepsake memory ornaments.

Making Keepsake Memory Ornaments with Clothing

Jane and Sonja
Create your own memorial ornaments using old shirts and mason jars.
4.9 from 10 votes

Materials
  

  • Woven button up shirt
  • Large canning jar lid and screw band
  • Fabric scissors
  • Hot glue gun
  • Twine
  • Silver Winter-themed charm (optional)
  • Decorative greenery (optional)

Instructions
 

  • Place and center lid over top of placket on button up shirt. Trace lid with pen, chalk or wax.
  • Cut out circle and glue overlapping placket together with hot glue gun.
  • Place and glue circle on to lid and put aside for time being.
  • Use the screw band to trace another circle out of the shirt. Cut the circle out larger than the size of the screw band to have enough fabric to overlap the edges.
  • Place covered lid into screw band and glue in place.
  • Use the other circle cut out to cover the back side of the ornament. Fold the edges over the band and glue them in place. Trim the excess if it extends past the top of the screw band.
  • Cut three long strands of  twine. Secure one end and braid the three strands together. You’ll need the braid long enough to wrap around the perimeter of the ornament and to create a 4-5” long hanging loop.
  • Glue the braided twine around the covered screw band forming a large loop for hanging at the top.
  • Wrap and tie another piece of twine around the base of the loop and attach a charm  as well if you have one.
  • Lastly, glue some faux greenery to the top of  the ornament on either side of the hanging loop.
Like this craft? Leave some stars!& mention @SustainMyCraftHabit or tag #sustainmycrafthabit on Instagram!
Tutorial Rating




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Kim Price

Saturday 28th of October 2023

Having trouble getting the shirt to fit the whole for the back it seems a lot more material than ring any suggestions

Kim Price

Saturday 4th of November 2023

@Kim Price,

Jules

Wednesday 25th of October 2023

How do you make a tag with your loved ones signiture?

Diane

Friday 1st of September 2023

Thank you for sharing this tutorial. I love these keepsake ornaments made from shirts. My husband passed away recently. I saved some of his clothing, which I will use to make an ornament for each of our children and grandchildren. I plan to add a charm that's fitting to the individual receiving the ornament.

Jenn Pennell

Tuesday 16th of May 2023

Awwwww. I Iove these so much. My mom lost her dad and brother last year so I’m going to make these for her for Christmas. Thanks for the inspiration!

Cheers, Jenn // www.shawave.com

Evelyn Safiri

Thursday 5th of January 2023

I will add a layer of foam between the shirt and the lid to give it a more rounded appearance, but I Love these and am VERY grateful for the idea. Thank you so much! <3

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