Come Learn and Share Information about Recycling, Crocheting & Recycled Crafting


Over a Hundred Free Plarn Patterns

September 19, 2014 2 comments
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.

Baby Pinafore and Booties

September 14, 2014 1 comment
Baby Pinafore and Booties

I just finished up crocheting this cute baby pinafore pattern. I used some vintage Good Shepherd Pompadour yarn which is 85% virgin wool and 15% rayon. This yarn is a lightweight sport yarn. The original crochet pattern I used is called Baby Pinafore with Ruffles. I did a few modifications to the pattern which I will detail below.

I used a G (4 mm) crochet hook and lightweight sport yarn to crochet this baby set. Because this yarn is very lightweight, I feel the pinafore is for a newborn size. I would use a heavier yarn and an H (5 mm) hook for a larger baby as my pinafore is not very big.

I joined after row 6 and used a small velcro strip for the back closure.

Reusable Water Bottle and Holder

September 6, 2014 7 comments
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.



About Me

Hello, I’m Cindy or aka RecycleCindy. Welcome to my blog site that is dedicated to recycling and crafting. I love to crochet and create crafts and other useful things from recycled materials. I share many free tutorials and patterns for creating recycled projects as well as other handmade items.


Here is a direct link to all my free patterns available here on My Recycled Bags.


Thank you for stopping by to visit and for your interest in My Recycled Bags!