It’s DIY Friday! | How to Make a Recycled Plastic Bag Tote

It’s DIY Friday! I’m so excited to be adding this new weekly feature to the Green Earth Bazaar blog! I LOVE making things, and I especially LOVE making things using items that might otherwise be tossed into the garbage bin. DIY (do-it-yourself) projects are fun, frugal, and can be totally green when crafting cool new stuff out of old or broken items.

I’ve recently fallen in love with the idea of creating reusable shopping bags out of the plastic shopping bags I still seem to collect no matter how hard I try not to. I stumbled upon the whole concept of making handbags and tote bags out of “plarn” (plastic yarn) recently, and was amazed at how beautiful, useful, and of course, green they can be. So for my first edition of DIY Friday, I thought it would be fitting to add a post on how to create your own bags and totes by recycling those pesky plastic shopping bags. I am currently working on my very own recycled plarn bag (that’s mine in the photo below ), and amazingly it is turning out to look like a bag (I have absolutely no prior experience with crochet, but was feeling very adventurous). These bags would be great to tote along to the local farmer’s market, or, if made large enough, you could keep them stashed somewhere in the house for quick toy clean up. These nifty green bags can be used for just about anything your little hearts desire, and you can feel good knowing that you’re doing something good for the planet too. These recycled bags use up lots of plastic bags in their making. That adds up to less plastic going into landfills, and less plastic finding its way into our all-too-fragile ecosystems too.

So here’s the skinny on how to make lovely, reusable bags and totes from those not-so-lovely plastic shopping bags. Enjoy!

Fat Bottom Bags http://fatbottombags.blogspot.com/ is where I originally learned about making these recycled bags and totes. Unfortunately, at the time of writing this post the site is down (irony). However, I do recommend checking this site out at a later date. The woman who runs it has a fantastic blog, and does lots of cool green stuff too. Here, however, are the links to her You Tube video tutorials on making fat bottom bags.

Making Fat Bottom Bags Part 1

Making Fat Bottom Bags Part 2

MyRecycledBags.com has a number of really neat plarn projects, including the pattern for the bag I am currently attempting to make (keeping fingers crossed). The woman who runs the site is so talented, and has lots of other cool project ideas and patterns too.

Recycled Plastic Plarn Handbag

The Organic Sister.com has a nice post on making a plarn bag, and has lots of great photos to go along with it too. She’s writes a really great blog, and is certainly one free-spirited greenie

Crocheting With Plarn

These women are so talented and should definitely be applauded for their eco-friendly creativity. Peace.

Here’s a tip: If you’re new to crocheting like me, you can get lots of instructions, tips, and tutorials from http://crochet.about.com/. This is where I went to find out how to do the required stitches for making my plarn bag.

Michelle

I'm a lover of life and all things natural and organic. I love making healthy foods, nature photography, DIY projects, making homemade beauty treats, and creating handmade jewelry. I'm passionate about a lot of things and write about them here on my blog. Peace, social justice, good food, green beauty, sustainable living - you name it, I care about it. Thanks for taking the time to visit me. Peace. ;)

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