My fiance is a widower and has two grown sons. The boys were 13 and 15 when their mother died from breast cancer. Two Christmases ago I took some curtains she had made for their home and, with Don's blessing, I cut them into narrow strips -- about an inch or so wide. I used pinking shears. There were three different colors of curtains. One one pair of curtains she had used a decorative heart stitch to hem them. I cut it as narrow as I could so as not to loose the stitching. Next, I very tightly braided the strips together then, using a hot glue gun, I attached them to clear glass ornaments. Next, I glued the narrow heart stitch strip around the middle of the ornament. The final touch was to glue on a charm from a bracelet she used to wear. The charms contained photographs of her and the boys together. I selected the charms for the boys' ornaments of her holding them when they were little guys (probbly 2 and 4 years of age). For Don's ornament, I attached a bracelet he had given to her that had her name engraved on a little heart charm. I wrapped the ornaments in tissue paper and tucked them into velvet boxes I bought from a dollar store. I included a little note that read: This ornament was made using fabric from curtains your mother had made to beautify your home. May the love she sewed into them touch your heart now and always. I gave the ornament and a stand to hang it on to each of them. Needless to say, they were quite overwhelmed. Those "tough guys" turned to mush. See how much those ornaments meant to them made me cry, too.
You can use shirts for the fabric. I have shirts that belonged to Don's father that I want to use to make him another ornament. I want to get a shirt from Don's two sons so that the three of them will be braided together -- quite symbolic I think.