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


Tag Archive | "recycled-plastic-bags"

Mini Plarn Shoulder Bag Purse

December 5, 2020 3 comments

Got plastic bags? Want to make a cute little shoulder bag? Well grab your crochet hook and those bags and lets crochet a mini shoulder bag purse out of those plastic sacks.

This recycled crafting project used about 15 brown Safeway retail sacks, cut 1 inch wide and assembled using the looping method to create plarn. The finished purse measures 6.5 inches wide by 5 inches tall with a 36 inch long strap. The strap can be knotted as shown for a shorter strap or kept longer for wearing across the body.

Here is free mini shoulder bag pattern.

Recycled Plastic Messenger Book Bag

September 19, 2020 8 comments

I crocheted this messenger book bag from recycled plastic Safeway bags. People ask me all the time how many bags it takes to crochet different projects of mine. I did a calculation on this project as I crocheted it. I found that I used about 3 bags for two full rounds on the crocheted body of the bag. Therefore I used about 39 bags to crochet the main body of this book bag. Overall I recycled about 60 plastic bags to crochet the messenger book bag.

I cut my plarn about 1 inch wide using the looping method to create my plastic bag yarn.

I crocheted 26 rows in half double crochet (HDC) before starting the flap. For the flap, I crocheted 12 rows in HDC before starting the decreases for the tapered flap. I crocheted a total of 25 rows and then added a edging of single crochet stitching around the edges of the flap. By adding the single crochet stitches, it helps even out the edges and makes for a smooth finish to the flap.

I crocheted my strap even on 6 stitches wide for a 35 inch long strap.

The original crochet pattern for the messenger bag is found here. It’s a free plarn crochet pattern and I just tweaked it a bit to make this smaller book bag of 14″ wide by 11.5″ long. The original crochet pattern makes a

Recycled Seahawks Tote Bag

May 16, 2020 3 comments

I have had lots of time on my hands lately to crochet with all the stay-at-home orders. I thought it was time to break into my huge stash of plastic bags and crochet a new recycled plastic tote bag. This bag was crocheted using mainly white plastic retail bags made into plarn and I added blue and green yarn to give it a Seattle Seahawks color theme.

This tote bag was crocheted using my free ultimate recycled bag pattern. I added stripes using regular yarn by doing 3 blue HDC (half double crochet stitch) rows, 3 green HDC and then 3 more blue HDC rows along with plastic bag yarn to crochet this bag.

Finished size is 12″ wide by 13″ long with 7″ handles. I think it would make a nice book bag so I may donate it to the next library fundraiser. So in honor of my beloved Seahawks,

Recycled Plastic Kitchen Gift Basket

September 28, 2019 No comments yet

This post is a follow-up to my plarn crocheted basket project. This basket was crocheted using recycled plastic bags cut into 1 inch wide plarn. You can read all the recycled basket making details here.

Once the basket was completed, I needed to fill it with some kitchen gift items for a charity fundraiser. I crocheted a kitchen towel topper, star dishcloth and added a package of fall napkins along with a set of wooden spoons.

The towel topper was crocheted using the pointed handle towel topper pattern. The brown towel is a Dollar Store towel that is folded in half with the towel topper crocheted along the top folded edge through both layers.

My free star dishcloth pattern is found

Plarn Wine Bottle Holder

June 5, 2019 No comments yet

Introducing a recycled plastic crocheted wine bottle holder. I have wanted to create a wine bottle cozy using plastic bags for a long time now. It’s one of those things that I keep wanting to crochet and write up the free pattern to share for years. Well, I finally got the project done.

The crocheted wine holder holds a 750 ml bottle of wine easily and even a 1.5 L can be slipped into the plarn cozy.

Along with the free crochet pattern, here is my plarn wine bottle holder.

Plarn Wine Bottle Holder Pattern

Wine Bottle Holder Size: 10″ tall with 3-1/2 across bottom

Hook:
Metal “K” (6.5 mm) US size crochet hook

Materials: 14 plastic bags cut into 1 inch wide plarn
Piece of ribbon or strand of plarn for top closure

Directions:
With plarn, Ch 4, Sl St to join in first st of chain to form ring. Holder is worked in the round without turning unless directed to do so.

Easter Plarn Projects

March 16, 2016 3 comments

Easter is just about upon us and what better time to share some recycled plastic bag or plarn projects.
Here is a cute Easter basket you can crochet using some recycled green, yellow and white plastic bags.

Here is a larger basket that I crocheted several years ago with some hard-to-find purple plastic sacks. An on-line friend sent me these purple retail sacks and I happily recycled them into plarn. I cut the bags 1 inch wide and crocheted the basket using this free Easter basket pattern.

Japanese Knot Plarn Tote Bag

April 23, 2015 14 comments

Japanese Knot Bags are very handy and feature two handles. One handle is shorter than the other so you can pull the longer handle through the shorter as a quick and unique closure for the bag. I thought a Japanese Knot would be a cool idea for a recycled tote bag.

I used mainly recycled grey Walmart plastic bags to crochet the tote bag with 4 blue plastic bags for the stripe. It took about 50 plastic bags cut 1 inch wide and made into plarn (plastic bag yarn) to crochet my Japanese knot tote bag. I loved how the blue really helped set off the bag to give it a nice look to an otherwise boring grey bag. Overall I am very happy with the results of my latest crocheted reusable bag.

Here is a closeup of the top with the Japanese knot used for the plastic bag tote closure.

As always, here is the free crochet pattern so everyone can crochet their own recycled Japanese knot tote bag.


Japanese Knot Plarn Tote Pattern

Hook: N (9mm) size metal crochet hook
All directions are in US crochet terms.

Description:
Bag measures 14″ wide flat across the front, 12″ tall, 9-1/2″ round bottom with one handle 10″ long and the other 15″ long.

Directions:
Ch 3 and join with a Sl St to form a ring.

Pink and Grey Plastic Bag Tote

November 8, 2013 No comments yet

I present a pink and grey plastic bag tote featuring a netting stitch look. I crocheted this tote bag using recycled grey retail bags and pink plastic newspaper sacks. Both types of plastic bags were cut into strips using these plarn making tutorials.

I just love the fish net look of this stitch in pink plarn. It’s just so pretty looking. The contrast between the pink plarn and grey really works well together.

I made some minor changes from the original plastic net market bag pattern. I used a J (6 mm) crochet hook when I crocheted the pink plarn section. The pink recycled bags are thinner and the J hook makes a tighter stitch. I also did 23 rounds finishing



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!