Examples:
Adult or child's large sweatshirt into infant romper/sleeper - haven't found an online tutorial for this. I am sure there is one somewhere. I got the idea from this book:
This is a great book for people who are just learning to sew or just want some simple projects for fun gifts. Sadly, I am pretty sure it is long out of print. 
Sorry for the blurry picture - but this is an example of what I mean by re-purposing a shirt into a romper. I used a shirt no one was wearing because it had a rather "loud" graphic on it of a wolf. Of course, this was years and years ago and I don't have the romper now.
Cloth diapers from t-shirts / sweatshirts - see: http://fernandfaerie.com/sewing_fitteds.html
This tutorial wasn't around when I was cloth diapering, but it looks like a great, informative site that those thinking of cloth diapering should check out. T-shirt diapers are wonderfully absorbent and stay so soft after lots of washings.
Men's shirt into woman's blouse - I haven't done this yet, but I seriously plan to. There is no shortage of men's shirts around. See: Stripes in (re)fashion – Learning Sewing | BurdaStyle.com and Peasant Top from a Man's Shirt at Cut out and Keep.
Of course this is only a tiny sample. Others could be cloth menstrual pads, dinner napkins, lots of kids clothing, rag-rugs etc.
Hoards of clothing get dumped at thrift shops, which on one hand is great for providing affordable clothing to those of us who wish to purchase it, however it also is indicative of the throw away society we have. Check out the horrific economic and cultural impact second hand clothing has on the developing world in this paper at Oxfam and this good but old article in the Washington Post. As important as reusing is, if it is at the expense of certain economies over others, it is worth it or fair? Better for us to take care of our own clothing, think before we buy (do I need this?) and look for innovative ways to re-purpose some clothing rather than discard each season.
Happy re-purposing!
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