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Over a Hundred Free Plarn Patterns

If you are looking for free plarn patterns or craft ideas for using recycled plastic bags, you are at the right website. I have over a hundred free plarn patterns at My Recycled Bags.com. When I started this blog site back in 2007, I had just one crochet pattern for using recycled plastic bags made into plarn. Over the last 7 years I have created and added over a hundred new plarn patterns which I offer free to everyone for their personal use.

In case you are new to recycled crafting, plarn is the term which refers to the material one can make by cutting plastic bags into strips. Thus the term is PL (plastic) + ARN (yarn) = PLARN.

I want to provide everyone with a comprehensive post here and provide everyone links on how to make plarn to all the different designs I have available in my pattern links.

First if you want to know how to make plarn from regular plastic retail bags, here is my picture tutorial on how to make plarn. Maybe you have the thin newspaper bags and wonder how to make plarn from those. Here is my newspaper bag plarn making tutorial.

Finally here is the link to all my free plarn patterns. I have everything from purses, totes, draft dodgers, baskets, scrubbies, slippers, rugs, clothes pin bags to hats.

Reusable Water Bottle and Holder

Here is a new twist on a recycled plastic water bottle holder. I crocheted this water bottle holder using recycled plastic newspaper bags. I cut the plastic bags into 1 inch wide strips using this plarn making tutorial. Here is the free crochet pattern for the plastic bag water bottle holder. But the twist on this water bottle combo is the water container. I inserted a glass Mason jar into the plarn holder to hold the water.

This idea can be used for several different sizes of reusable and recycled glass jars as the plarn holder stretches and fits many sizes of jars and recycled glass bottles. The good thing about using glass is that you don’t need to worry about the plastic breaking down and you actually beginning to ingest the plastic if you reuse the bottle. Here is a recycled pint size jar in the same plastic bag holder as above.

Striped Reusable Tote Bag

I just finished crocheting this striped reusable tote bag. Each year I crochet a recycled bag item for my local Relay for Life event. They use the donated items in gift baskets and for their fundraising.


I used my ultimate recycled grocery tote pattern to crochet this bag. I just added three rows with pink recycled plastic bags or plarn, one row with blue, and then three final rows in pink again before switching back to white plarn. Finding the colored plastic bags isn’t easy and just a few can spice up a plain white tote bag such as this one. Plus I always like to use pink in my projects that I crochet for Relay for Life in support of breast cancer awareness.

This crocheted recycled tote bag measures

Crocheted Pink and Grey Plarn Sandals

Here is my finished pair of pink and grey crocheted plarn sandals that I have been working on for months. This truly has been a labor of love and recycled craft challenge to get these completed. I posted my progress with this plastic bag project over the last several months. I crocheted the plarn sandal soles and improved on the pattern I used in the past for making recycled plastic sandal slippers.

I present the free crochet pattern for these recycled plastic sandals below. These can be used at the beach, around the house and garden, or even as shower sandals for college students. For larger or smaller sizes, just add more or reduce the stitches to your beginning chain and crochet the tops wider too as needed.


Pink and Grey Plarn Sandals Crochet Pattern

Materials needed:
One ball of plastic bag yarn “Plarn” cut 1 inch wide – Approx. 30 Grey plastic grocery bags and 10 Pink plastic bags

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

Hook: J (6 mm) metal crochet hook

Description:
Recycled Plastic Bag Sandals Women Size 9 to 9-1/2 M

Directions:
Make 2 soles for each sandal.

Rnd 1
With grey plastic bag yarn (plarn) Ch 21.