Escama Bags

I was in the gift store of the Museum of Art yesterday, in Balboa Park (San Diego), and I saw some beautiful bags made from soda can tops by Escama.
This may give you an idea

Recycling Plastic Bags

I posted previously about creating "fabric" by fusing plastic bags, but another way to recycle plastic shopping bags is by making plastic "yarn" (plarn) and knitting, crocheting, or even weaving it.

My Recyled Bags has a great tutorial on how to cut the bags and connect the pieces.
Similar tutorial by Gooseflesh.
This is the method I prefer, though it makes a double-strand thickness.

If you prefer a thinner yarn, another method is to cut each bag into a spiral (like an orange peel).
Weavezine shows this method, and also gives a tutorial on weaving plarn.

Or perhaps the tutorial by Pie and Coffee will make more sense to you.

Recycled plastic totes are especially great beach bags--they can be rinsed off easily, and are long lasting.
They're also great for shopping bags (ironic, eh? Plastic shopping bags, reused and made into reusables).
They are also quite sturdy.

Wow, go figure--Creative Recyclers show how to weave a tube shape from plastic bags, using a plastic bottle as a prop.
This spool knitting technique (with real yarn) is also shown on Craftypod.

Atomic Shrimp used a handmade French bobbin and 25 plastic bags to knit this amazing tote

There are a lot of patterns out there, but here are just a few to get you inspired:

I loooove this crocheted tote from Marlo's Crochet Corner (instructions on her site).

I have just enough blue Walmart bags saved for the project.
For anyone who likes to use plastic bags for projects, there was a collective groan when Walmart switched from blue to ordinary white bags.

Crocheted tote tutorial on The Knitty Professors

When searching for free patterns, you can sometimes find crochet or knitting plastic tote/purse patterns under "bread bag".
Packages from bread and newspapers are thinner plastic, are often easier to work with, and give a finer look.
I especially like the clear bags--they give almost a crystalline accent to your projects.
My Recycled Bags has a ton of patterns available, including Bread Bag Tote

Also from My Recycled Bags, a Granny Square Motif Tote

There seem to be fewer knitting tutorials out there, but almost any knit or crochet pattern can be adapted to use with plarn.
Also check youtube for video tutorials.

Fused Plastic

One of the best types of recycling is when trash is converted to something usable.
A perfect example: fused plastic.
Yes, you can take those grocery sacks and cut them into strips and knit or crochet them into bags, but you can also melt them into your own "fabric" and sew them into shapes.

My favorite video tutorial is from Make Magazine, and the pattern for the messenger bag is amazing

Etsy Labs has a tutorial you can read, or they offer a video also.

Katie Crafts has a tutorial for a fused plastic messenger bag made from produce sacks
Dabbled's tutorial

Dollarstore Crafts made a fused plastic backpack

My absolute favorite twist on fused plastic, is the quilted bag by Craftastica

Fun bag by Betz White

Really creative ideas for plastic fusion (using scraps, weaving strips, adding text,layering)
Video one
Video two

Timbuk2 bag--how to make an embellished panel video

Now that's unique recycling!

Used Soccer ball purse, as seen on Geekologie

Purse from trash

Great idea as seen on Dollarstore Crafts:
Make a Trashcycled Hermes bag!

original post by Brainy Bee on craftster

Feed bags to tote bags

How about recycling feed bags--especially the ones that are stronger than paper.

Recycled feedsack bags, by Handcrafted at Wit's End (etsy)



Backpack style by Bluemont Creations (etsy)


Tutorial using a dog food bag, on All Free Crafts.
Tutorial using a cat food bag on Thrifty Fun

Amazing Birdfeed bags by Twisted Textiles
(sold in her Etsy shop, Twisted Wear)

another post here


And from catfood bags too

Have you seen this bag?

A lady in Atlanta emailed me, asking if I had seen a purse like this before, and if I knew how it was made.
It's new to me--have any of you seen bags like this?
How is the yarn attached?
Who manufacturers them?

My first guess was that material that you sew all over then it 'melts' in water, but I think that would be too flimsy to be a bag, and I don't see stitching lines either.
Fusible interfacing would still require stitching.
I'm stumped.

Buckets

Let's go off theme for a second.
This technically isn't a purse, but I can envision possibilities.
Add a strap?
Shoot, just use it to store you purses.
All I know is that it's cute, and Jodie of Ric Rac has posted a tutorial.
(thank you, Wendy, for linking)

Speaking of buckets, containers, and totes, here's a fun recycling project: a bag over a bleach bottle

From Aleene's Creating with Plastic Bottles booklet, 1966

It used to be in vogue to crochet a top portion over a bleach bottle base (see the little green purse)

like in this leaflet of patterns for crocheted bags, from Coats & Clark, 1973

MineFull has posted a tutorial for her version

grandma's crochet bleach bag
Originally uploaded by MineFull

Here's a similar one by Dottyral
She says, "I just punched holes around the plastic bottle. Did a row of single crochets through the holes, then a bunch of double crochet rounds. Put the drawstring through it. That's it. I wish I had cut the bottle down shorter. I think it would have been cuter."

This one also uses a bleach bottle, but is made from cutting shapes from the bottle, punching holes in the edges, then stitching the shapes together.

Posted by Compact Collection, I do not know the year this was published nor it's source (though the name Betty Russell is printed on the page).

crochet cradle purse
Originally uploaded by wendycohoon

Wendycohoon crochets over a vinegar bottle base.

Beach tote/mat, 1967

I adore this pattern. (click image to enlarge)

This tote converts into a beach mat.
The entire thing is constructed from placemats.
God that's fun!

R.I.P. Plastic Grocery Sacks

Rather than talking about sewing bags today, I want to pause to mention all the changes happening where I live in California regarding plastic grocery bags.

As of July 1, a new law goes into effect here, Assembly Bill AB 2449, requiring large companies to provide recycling bins for plastic bags.
The aim of the Bill is to reduce litter, as this plastic does not decompose in landfills.

Some local grocery chains already have this service, but Costco has decided to eliminate using the non-biodegradable bags altogether.

Some shoppers will be bringing their own bags to the stores now.
Some people are hoping consumers opt for reusable tote bags, even expensive designer versions.

Evidently to most folks in Europe and Australia, this is old news.
They've been using their own bags for years.
I've spoken with some of you via email who live in the eastern United States,
and you've got those bags in your car trunks too.
We've just got to retrain our spoiled selves also.

Reusable tote bags may be the best option.
There is some question as to which manufacturing process produces the most environmentally sensitive bag--the cotton, or the corn, or the....

Jen of The Felt Mouse just mentioned the reusable bags sold at Target stores.

I prefer the smaller 99 cent totes sold by Trader Joes.

The Bag Snob is eagerly anticipating the bag made my Anya Hindmarch.

Read about it here and here.

Post about Envirosax from Brownie Points.

Cal Arts students sew their own totes, as seen on the blog Core 77.

Reusable Bags for sale.
Also Envirotote.

Interesting article by The Seattle Times.
Similar stories by Fox News, and the Honolulu Advisor.

Or here is the complete article by Jane Adams from the Chicago Tribune. Good stuff!

Green is the new black --in grocery bags
Fashionistas promote eco-chic totes as cities look at banning non-biodegradable plastic

By Jane Meredith Adams
Special to the Tribune

June 25, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO -- Plastic grocery bags are out.

They're not just being banned from large grocery stores here -- which a new law mandates will happen before it's time to buy a Thanksgiving turkey -- but out as in outmoded. In a merger of environmental concern and fashion sensibility, big-name designers are introducing eco-chic grocery totes, while lawmakers in New York, Boston, Phoenix, Los Angeles and elsewhere debate San Francisco-style bans on non-biodegradable, petroleum-based plastic bags.

These green fashionistas hope to lure the style-conscious into a nationwide anti-plastic-bag frenzy egged on by, of all forces, the fashion bible Vogue magazine. "Today, let us go out and harness the power of fashion to change the way the nation shops," contributing editor Sarah Mower wrote in last month's edition. "One stylish act of rebellion in supermarkets, delis, drugstores and designer emporiums and at market stalls is all it takes: Say no to plastic bags."

The goal is to make it chic to bring your own bag, be it a Hermes $960 Silky Pop grocery tote, due out this summer, or a $1 Whole Foods green bag, said Claire White, editor of ShoppingBlog.com. It's been estimated that plastic bags take up to 1,000 years to degrade in landfills. "Eventually everyone is going to end up reusing grocery bags," White wrote in an e-mail. "The only question is when."

Roughly 100 billion plastic bags are buried in landfills each year in the U.S., according to Worldwatch Institute, an environmental research agency.

On Thursday, British designer Anya Hindmarch released 20,000 of her limited-edition "I'm not a plastic bag" cotton totes in the U.S., as 90,000 bag-hungry consumers competed in a lottery for the privilege of buying the $15 bag, according to Kelly Cook, co-owner of Bagsnob.com. When an earlier version of the bag was spotted on the arm of actress Keira Knightley, the tote became a must-have item, said Cook, and the panache has only been enhanced by the fact that most of Hindmarch's other shoulder bags sport a $1,000 price tag.

Also due out this summer in supermarket couture is Stella McCartney's $495 organic cotton canvas shopping bag and Consuelo Castiglioni of Marni's $843 collapsible nylon grocery tote.

Meanwhile in San Francisco, shoppers appear to be using everything from Trader Joe's $1.99 Hawaiian print totes to their bare hands, as was the case with a man who shunned a paper bag and carried a container of edamame beans to his car from Real Foods in the city's Marina district. That's good preparation for Nov. 20, when large supermarkets in San Francisco will have the option of providing customers only with paper bags or compostable bags made of cornstarch.

Andrea Arria-Devoe, the San Francisco editor of the style Web site DailyCandy.com, grocery shops with two green Whole Foods totes. "My husband and I got into a fight about it, because he mindlessly accepts plastic bags. Now he refuses them with 'My wife will kill me.' "

San Francisco is the first city in the U.S. to opt for the bag ban.

The law, passed in March, affects large supermarkets and drugstores. Small stores will still be able to pack customers' goods in plastic. The pharmacy bag ban takes effect later.

The 50 grocery stores that would be most affected had argued that the ban was not reasonable because plastic bags made of corn byproducts are a relatively new, expensive and untested product. Some said they might offer only paper bags at checkout.

Rainbow Grocery, a vegetarian emporium, has never offered plastic bags to customers. Outside recently, art student Ying Hsiao wore a handsome messenger bag slung across her back and prepared to fill it with bounty. "I started bringing my own bag about four years ago, when I became vegan," she said.

Poised to pedal off on his bike, Philip Watson carried a half-gallon of soy milk, yogurt, a hunk of kale, and oranges and apples on his back in a sturdy backpack, while Michelle Menegaz and her daughters, Eva and Gabi, wheeled out provisions in three large canvas bags. But canvas wasn't an ecologically perfect choice either, Menegaz noted. "Cotton is extremely resource intensive," she said.

"I'm going to miss the plastic bags when they go away," said Diana Shook, who carried frozen hash browns and other supplies in a blue and white canvas tote. "I use them to clean out the kitty litter."

When consumers bring their designer bags into the supermarket, will they really be loading them up with melting ice cream and slabs of salmon? Cook of Bagsnob.com has a confession. "I had my Anya bag when I went to the market, and it was so cute that I have to admit, when the guy was bagging my chicken, I said, you'd better not," she said. She took the plastic, for now.

Tribune news services contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune

Rosewebs

Most of you know I love working with and supporting artists who utilize recycled materials, so naturally I think Rosewebs is awesome.

She makes totes from lawn-chair webbing.
What a wonderful, resilient material to consider!

Please note that I post tutorials on this site so you can make your own bags, but I also post companies from which you can purchase readymade items.

Really, we need both types of bags, don't you think?

So while I hope to stir your creative urges for each challenge, I don't mean for you to just recreate bags off these people's ideas.
In other words, support your local artist, okay?

Thanks to Jen for telling me about this etsy store.