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Category: Plastic Bag Crafts

Recycled Trick or Treat Bag

Cindy10 Comments

Halloween is just around the corner and I’ve been saving plastic orange newspaper bags for quite awhile so I could crochet a recycled trick or treat bag. I just got it finished in time and am here to share the project with everyone.

This trick or treat bag features a milk jug base so its nice and sturdy. With a sharp pair of scissors, just cut around the bottom of the milk jug as shown in the photo below. The jug I used had a line around the base so it made it easy to cut it evenly around the bottom. By recycling a plastic milk jug, you create a trick or treat basket that will hold its shape and your candy nicely.

Once you finish crocheting the bag, you can always add more embellishments like eyes and a mouth to the project. I took a few pieces of VCR tape and created a quick face for my trick or treat bag. So this concludes my Halloween project for the year. Enjoy the free crochet pattern below — Happy Halloween!

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Trick or Treat Plastic Plarn Basket

Materials needed: One ball of orange plastic bags cut into strips 3/4 inch wide and interlocked
to create a ball of plarn – (Approx. 20-25 bags)
Small amount of green plastic bags cut into plarn for strap
One plastic milk jug

Here is my picture tutorial on how to make yarn from recycled plastic bags.

Hook: K (6.5 mm) metal crochet hook

Description: Orange Trick or Treat Basket –
Basket measures 9 inches across front and 6-1/2 inches tall with 14 inch handle strap.

Directions:
Ch 3 and join with a Sl St to form a ring.

Fat Bottom Bag from Recycled Bread Bags

Cindy15 Comments


I have been working for several weeks now on a custom-ordered recycled bread bag project. The client wanted a fat bottom bag (FBB) crocheted from bread bags. What made the project unique was that the bread bags are from her husband’s bread factory. She collected bread bags from the factory’s floor of damaged products and mailed them to me to crochet her FBB.

I cut the bread bags into strips about 1/2 inch wide and created plarn using the same method I do for plastic grocery bags. I didn’t count the number of bags used but I believe its around 50 bread bags. I used the FBB English pattern here. I added the flap and button option which is detailed at my plastic fat bottom post link which also has the English chart link as the original pattern is written in Portuguese.

Working with the bread bags was much harder than the thin newspaper bags that I used in my first plarn FBB. The bread bags are so stiff making it difficult to do the gathering portion of the bag. But I was able to get it accomplished and lined the bag for my special order customer.

Here are some photos of the project as it progressed.

Beginning of crocheted shell of FBB


Shell and lining completed

The final photo shows the flap with the button sewn in place. I am excited for my customer to receive her custom-made repurposed bread bags. I hope she enjoys her unique recycled fat bottom purse.



Dishcloths and Plastic Scrubbies

CindyLeave a comment

Here are a few dishcloths I crocheted along with some recycled plastic bag scrubbies. I purchased this large clearance skein of Bernat cotton yarn and have been making kitchen sets with the cotton. I crocheted the plastic scrubbies and then added a final round on the scrubbies using the cotton so it matched the dishcloth.

To the right is my star dishcloth pattern but I did the two final rounds by working Sc’s in each stitch and 3 Sc’s in each point of the star. I thought by working the last few rounds in single crochet with white cotton yarn that it added a nice finish to the dishcloth.

The scrubbie dot pattern was adapted by using plastic bags cut into 3/4″ wide strips to create plarn and then using a “J” hook, I crocheted the pattern as written except for the final round which I used the cotton yarn to match my dishcloth.


Here is my open mesh magic dishcloth pattern using the same cotton yarn. The scrubbers were again plastic bags with the final round done in the cotton yarn to match.

So if you want to crochet some recycled plastic bag scrubbies, consider adding a final round of cotton yarn to them so they can match the dishcloth to create a unique kitchen set. These make excellent eco gifts and people really find the scrubbies handy.

Recycled Water Bottle Carrier

Cindy7 Comments


I am sharing a reader’s designs and crochet pattern for a plastic water bottle carrier. These water bottle carriers are made from recycled plastic bags and have been fashioned into some amazing designs by Cecile Chi.

Cecile has allowed me to reprint her pattern and photos in this post. Her designs are beautiful and shows how plastic trash can truly be transformed into treasures. While she doesn’t give all the details for creating the special designs shown in the photos, her beautiful creations do provide us with numerous ideas for crocheting our own unique designs with recycled plastic bags.
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Recycled Plastic Water Bottle Carrier Pattern By Cecile Chi

Directions for a carrier for a half-liter water bottle:
Cut strips across the bag, 5/8 to 3/4 inches wide to create your plarn (plastic bag yarn)

Beginning the carrier
Begin by making the base, a flat circle with one end of the yarn, make a slip knot loop
Use size F and G crochet hooks as directed
Ch 3

Camo Plarn Ditty Bag

Cindy7 Comments

I’m here to introduce my camo plarn ditty bag. My camo plarn is made from green, tan, brown, creme, white, grey and orange recycled plastic bags. Making camo plarn is a wonderful way to use up your odds and ends of plastic bags. I used just one or two bag strips of the same color together and as I worked the ditty bag then I added more bag strips as I crocheted in an effort to create a staggered camo look.

Here is my first sample of the camo plarn after 6 rounds complete of the ditty bag pattern. I used Dot’s Ditty Bag pattern found here.

I did have to change the pattern a bit to make it work with recycled plastic bags. First I used a N (9 mm) crochet hook as I did in this plastic ditty bag version. My finished camo ditty bag is 7 inches tall and about 7 inches wide.


Then I did another experiment and made a winter or snow camo ditty bag. For this recycled bag project, I used only black, white, and grey plastic bags. While I like both of the camo plarn bags, I think I prefer the snow camo bag best.

My plan is to crochet a few more of these camo plarn bags and donate them to soldiers for Christmas. Hopefully some soldiers will find it useful for toiletries or just as a little storage tote.