My Recycled Bags.com

Thrift Store Sweater Upcycled

Recycling thrift store sweaters is a great way to reclaim some nice yarn at a reasonable price. I recently picked up this mohair blend sweater from my local thrift store with high hopes to unravel the yarn. Well I soon found out that this sweater didn’t want to unravel and appears to be an interlocked knit.

I put on my thinking cap in an effort to upcycle this old sweater into some new and useful items. First I used the lower portion of the sweater to create a scarf cowl. Using some scrap yarn, I added two rows of single crochet along the lower edges to finish off the raw edges where the sweater body had been attached. My upcycled cowl was finished off with some wooden buttons from my stash.

Next I tackled using the sleeve as a plastic bag holder. The natural cuff on the sweater was perfect for transforming the sleeve into a handy bag keeper. As shown in the pictures, I folded under the top of the sleeve to the inside. Using a basting stitch, I sewed around the top edge about 1 inch from the top to create a casing for the ribbon tie closure. I machine stitched the basting to hold the fold in place and also so I could crochet in a straight line to create my casing. I left the back of the casing open where the sleeve seam is. Then using a small D crochet hook and some scrap brown yarn, I worked a slip stitch over the basting and through both layers to create my casing for the ribbon tie closure. See photos below and you can click on any other them to enlarge the pictures.

I added a hook hanger at the back by chaining the length I wanted and then worked back down the chain by working a single crochet stitch around the chain and attached both ends into the back of the bag keeper. I threaded a piece of ribbon through the casing and tied it at the back with a bow to complete the plastic bag keeper. I present the upcycled thrift store sleeve which has been transformed into a plastic bag holder.

Plarn Plastic Bag Keeper

Here is a handy plastic bag keeper crocheted from what else — recycled plastic bags or plarn.

This project was crocheted using plastic bags made into plarn along with one strand of some fingering weight yarn I had to add color. You just crochet holding the plarn and the yarn together. I then trimmed the top and bottom edges using just the fingering yarn. I also used the fingering yarn to make the ties for the bag as shown. This project was a request for a teal or turquoise bag holder and since I can’t really find that color of plastic bags to recycle, I added this yarn that I got at a garage sale for just 25 cents. Anyway using regular yarn along with recycled plastic bags is a great way to add color and spice up those boring white bags.

Enjoy the project and free crochet pattern below.

Plarn Plastic Bag Keeper Pattern

Finished Bag Keeper measures 4 inches circular wide and 18 inches long. Strap holder length is 10 inches.

Materials:
One large ball of plastic bags cut into 1 inch Plarn strips (Approx 25 bags)
3 ozs fingering yarn

Hook: Metal N (9 mm) US sized hook

Rnd 1
With plastic bag yarn (plarn) and fingering yarn held together, Ch 30, Sl St to join in first st of chain to form ring.

Recycle a Cup into a Plastic Bag Keeper

I have had several requests for recycled crafts projects that kids can do. With that in mind, here is a quick upcycle project that children and adults can both enjoy. First you need a large plastic container. The container I used was a 64 oz. soda pop cup that I found and decided that I would re-purpose into a plastic bag keeper.

Here is the finished plastic bag keeper

Below is a picture tutorial that I put together to show the steps for this project.