We all ruin a shirt at some point. Ketchup falls on it, the colors just run in the wash, or someone leaves a pen in the dryer and you didn't notice it and now all of your clothes are streaked with black. Don't let your first thought be to throw it away. Instead, consider doing any of these before it reaches the trash.
1. Tie-Die it.
If you stained a white shirt like I did and can’t get the stain out, make the stain part of the design! I had a white muscle tee that stained while doing a wash and I thought about just dumping it out because the stain was too embedded into the shirt to save. Luckily though I kept it, and when I was tie-dying with my sister I ended up bringing it along. Now I can’t even tell where the stain is, and it looks really cool.
2. Make it a rag.
Sometimes, there is just no use. A stain could make your favorite shirt look like complete garbage and no bleach or cleaner could get it out. Instead of throwing it out, make it the piece of garbage it was meant to be. Use it to clean blackboards, mirrors, glasses, glass, hang it in your bathroom and dry your hands, use it to wash your car, or get the muck off your hands while working in the garage; it could be used to clean anything. What are a few more stains on a ruined shirt anyways?
3. Use it as a smock.
Maybe you’re a painter or just like to get crafty, or maybe you are in an art class that involves getting messy or runs the risk of it. Whatever it is, you can just use your stained shirt to protect your clean clothes. And if the stain is really embarrassing, just flip it inside out so no one will see.
4. Buy a print for it.
If you know a place that presses shirts, go get a design pressed onto it to cover up the stain. No reason you can’t give it a new style.
5. Give it to your dog.
My two dachshunds used my grandma’s old sweater as a cover for their bed pillow, and they love it. If your shirt isn’t wide enough to spread it over a dog bed you can just cut it so it is. Another idea is to use it in the Winter. Some dogs can get all wet and cold when going out in the snow, so to keep them mostly dry and warm, lend them your old shirt so they don’t have to go out bare.
6. Wear it at home.
Only you and maybe your family or spouse are going to see it, and it still probably is an amazing shirt, so why not just keep wearing it? You just don’t want people who don’t know you seeing you in a dirty shirt, so there should be no problem just keeping it on around the house. It is just a stain after all, not a hole or something that makes it unwearable.
7. Use it as a pillowcase.
Maybe you don’t have a pillowcase or just don’t care what is in your bed at this point. A shirt is just a pillowcase with sleeves and four holes.
8. Create something from it.
Some dress designers like to pick up old clothes with nice patterns or materials and cut it up to make something different out of it. If the stain is small, you can probably just use the rest of the shirt to make something. That way you’ll always have a piece of something you loved with you, if you're sentimental like that.
9. Just throw it out.
Sometimes there is just no hope. Sometimes the stain is too big, crusty, sticky, or just flat out smells. The best option sometimes is to just let it go. Shirts are cheap enough and sometimes not worth keeping around. So go to your garbage and toss it and buy something that you can actually wear outside without being seen as a slob.