A Crafter's Life

Recycled Plastic Bags…Become a Bag!

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Yesterday a friend surprised me with a gift – a large sturdy tote bag made from recycled grocery store plastic bags by a very talented crafter friend of hers!

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It measures approximately 18″ x 12″ x 18″ and appears to be made using a crochet technique. Here is a photo of the bottom and if you crochet the pattern might look familiar:

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Just how study is it? Well you can transport a Pom-Chi in it!

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Imagine how many plastic bags get recycled to make this bag!

The friend who gave it to me (who also recently adopted the senior Pomeranian-Chihuaha, Chewy) mentioned that her friend who makes these has a huge ball of plastic grocery bag twine in her studio. The artist first makes plastic bags into twine/plastic yarn before crocheting (?) them into bags. She also makes mats/rugs from recycled grocery bags.

I am very excited about my new bag!

How awesome to go from this:

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To this*:

*Adorable dog in a cute sweater not included.

Published by tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Quilter, crafter, obsessive tea drinker and lover of all furry creatures (especially dogs and cats) - join me on my tierneycreates blog as I share stories from "A Crafter's Life".

28 thoughts on “Recycled Plastic Bags…Become a Bag!”

  3. Clever–and it would solve the problem of my never remembering to take the bags back to the recycle bin. I MUST get in the habit of taking my grocery bags with me to keep from using so many of those plastic bags. Better yet, I wish my town would outlaw them like Austin, Texas does.

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  6. This is definitely crocheted. Reminds me of how my grandmother used to crochet door mats out of old nylon tights. She used a very thick crochet hook and whole stocking bits, without cutting them up or anything. Then she used to dye the finished mats into nice colours – nylon dyes very well. Or sometimes she would use coloured tights and crochet striped mats. Come to think of it, I should stop throwing away my old tights and reuse them. We could do with a new door mat. 🙂

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      1. It was in the time when nylon tights were expensive to buy, so she could not stand just throwing them out. But you know, once they get laddered, you can’t really wear them any more either. But her nylon mats were really good, everyone wanted one. Colourful, washable and completely indestructible!

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  7. Ha ha! I love your disclaimer “Dog not included”. There are really some great options with this, too, especially if you had enough bags to isolate all the red or blue ones and end up with a vibrant bag! I like the brown, though, too — looks sortof rattan. Great recycling idea.

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  8. Dogs not included, lol. What a cool bag! I had heard of this kind of recycling crochet (with plastic bags and jeans), but have never seen it. What a nifty way to recycle in style! She did a really great job!

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  9. My Grandmother used to save her bread wrappers and made plarn rugs with them. The wonder bread wrappers were nice and colorful and those rugs were on the floor for 20 years and never wore out. My Grandma was green and didn’t even know it!

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