Patterns: Plastic Bags / Plarn
Patterns made from plarn, yarn cut from plastic grocery bags. Totes, purses, scrubbers, rugs, baskets and holiday decorations that keep bags out of the landfill.
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I needed a little mini flower basket for a garden theme crochet project so I cut some plastic bags very thin to accomplish this tiny recycled plastic basket. The basket is filled with wild Yarrow and Lupine flowers.
I used 2 recycled plastic bags and cut them in long continuous strips just a 1/4 of an inch wide. Here is one bag cut just 1/4 inch wide and rolled into a little plarn ball. As you can see this is thin, single strand plarn. I joined strips with a small knot and then just crocheted over the ends on the inside of the basket to hide the splices.
Mini Crocheted Plarn Flower Basket Pattern
G (4 mm) crochet hook
2 plastic retail bags cut 1/4 inch wide in one continuous single strand
Finished basket size: 3 inches wide x 2.75 inches tall
Directions:
Rnd 1
Ch 2 and SC 5 times in the 2nd ch from hook.
Here is part II of my dishcloths I crocheted using recycled plastic bags for pot scrubbers. This cute motif dishcloth was created using some plarn (plastic bag yarn) for the center and then cotton for the dishcloth. The plarn center provides you some scrubbing power when cleaning your dishes. Mix and match your scrap cotton yarn and plarn to make these unique dishcloths!
Here is another example of the same motif dishcloth but with different colors.
Clickable photo
My three different dishcloths that I have crocheted with recycled plastic bag centers.
The other two patterns for the blue-green and red round dishcloths can be found at this link.
As always, I hope you enjoy this recycled project and happy green crafting to you all!
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Free Motif Square Pot Scrubber Dishcloth Pattern
Dishcloth measures: 9-1/2 inch Square
Hook: Metal H (5 mm) US sized hook
Materials:
1- Sugar & Cream Cotton yarn ball Marble (used about 2/3 of ball)
Small amount of Pink Sugar & Cream Cotton yarn
Small amount of plastic bag plarn for scrubber center
With center color (White shown) Ch 4, Sl St to form ring.
I’m excited to share a little project that I have been experimenting with. You know those little green netting sleeves you get your lettuce in? Well, I’ve been trying to think of a good craft recycling project that I could do using the netting. Here is my result.
It is an eco-friendly greenie that you can scrub your dishes with. The cotton with the recycled green netting is very scratching and works well as a scrubbie. It measures 4-1/2″ by 4″.
Here is a mini tutorial on the prep for the green netting bags.
Lay out the green netting bag and I used a paper clip to hold the end closed.
Next cut the bag in strips across about 1 inch wide.
For many of you that have been following me or my blog site, you will recognize this bag immediately. It is my avatar that I use for all my postings and to identify me on many of the crafting and social websites that I participate at. It’s one of the first recycled bags I ever crocheted. It represents my beginning in what has become such amazing journey.
When I first started making recycled bags, I couldn’t find very many patterns and there was not much information out there on the process. Through trial and errors, I began to create many different projects using plastic bags, vcr tape, cassette tape, denim, and other recycled materials. My goal was to have a one-stop website where people could come and learn and share ideas about recycled crafting. Oh and I wanted everything to be free so everyone could take advantage and enjoy what I call green crafting. Anyway that is basically my story about the origins of my recycled bags.
So today, I share with you my signature recycled shoulder bag pattern. It is a bit ironic but I had never written up this pattern or posted it here for everyone’s use. It is like coming full circle as I share this pattern now. As always I hope you enjoy the project and happy green crafting to all!
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My Signature Recycled Shoulder Bag Pattern
Purse measures 10 inches wide and 6 inches long
Strap length is 38 inches when not tied
Materials:
One large ball of plastic bags (plarn) cut into 1 inch strips (appox. 30-38 bags)
One button 7/8″ button shown on bag
Hook: Metal N (9 mm) crochet hook
Chain 26
For all you dishcloth lovers out there, here is my free star dishcloth pattern that I created. It is crocheted with 5 points and uses a granny square stitch. The center can be crafted with recycled plastic bags or plarn which creates a center scrubbie.
Here is the option to crochet the dishcloth using just cotton.
Time for a new recycled plastic bag project. Things have been a little hectic lately and I haven’t been able to craft and post new patterns as frequently as I would like. But this week I was able to get some plastic newspaper bags cut up into plastic bag yarn. I just love this beautiful shade of pink salmon that my local library gets their newspaper delivered in. For those people who may have not read my fat bottom bag post, these beautiful bags are being saved by my local library. I pick them up about twice a week and it’s a wonderful resource for me to be able to obtain unique and colorful bags for my recycled crafting projects.
I actually counted the number of bags I used in this crocheting project. It was 29 plastic bags. I cut them about 1 inch wide and interconnected them together using the loop method. Each newspaper plastic bag results in about 17-18 loops if anyone is interested. Anyway this water bottle holder holds a 32 oz Nalgene bottle or a store bought 1 liter bottle of water. Because these plastic bags are a bit thinner I used a K crochet hook rather than my standard N hook. The smaller hook provided a tighter stitch and a sturdier water bottle holder.
Please enjoy the free crochet pattern below and happy crafting to all!
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Recycled Newspaper Bags Water Bottle Holder Pattern
Material Needed: 29 salmon pink newspaper plastic bags cut into 1 inch strips and connect into plarn.
Plastic newspaper sleeve bags were used in this project. Cut the strips and assemble
just as you do in this plarn making tutorial.
Hook:
Metal K (6.5 mm) crochet hook
Water Bottle Holder Size:
Bag – 5-1/2″ wide, 7″ long, with 4″ round bottom
Strap 40″ long & 2″ wide
Fits water bottles that are 32 oz reusable bottles or 1 liter plastic bottles
With pink plarn, Ch 4, Sl St to join in first st of chain to form ring.
This week I present my latest recycled plastic bag project. I call this my orange crush plarn purse. The purse was crocheted using orange newspaper bags and white plastic grocery bags. You can check out my plarn making tutorials that show how to make the bags into a yarn from either newspaper or plastic retail bags. The base was made using just the recycled bags from orange newspaper delivery sleeves. I then crocheted with two strands of plarn held together — one strand orange and one white. This combination created the orange and white color blend for the main body of the purse which was crocheted using a granny stitch.
Next I added a beautiful pair of purse handles that I picked up from my local thrift store. I was so excited to purchase these brand new, still in the package, handles for just 99 cents. The black handles just added a great final touch to the purse.
This cute purse crochet pattern can be found free over at Debi’s Hooks and Yarns blogspot. I modified her pattern by working 10 rounds in the granny stitch as I needed just a bit more height for my purse. Debi crocheted her bag using two strands of worst weight yarn so you can change up this pattern pretty easily depending on if you want to use plarn, yarn, or even tarn (t-shirt yarn).
Until next time, happy crafting and make it a great day!
Using these orange plastic bags to create a trick or treat bag was a great way to recycle my newspaper bags. Here is my picture tutorial for cutting the newspaper bags to create plarn so you can crochet with the material.
For this project, I wanted to create large comfortable handles that could be put over a child’s arms for easy carrying of this basket type bag. I recycled a microwave dinner tray and cut the top rim off. I then hole punched around the base evenly so I could crochet into the plastic tray for the base of this bag. The dinner tray provides a flat and sturdy bottom to the bag which allows the bag to stand up nicely on its own.
Enjoy crocheting this recycled bag project and happy Halloween everyone!
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Free Crocheted Pattern for a Recycled Plastic Trick or Treat Bag
Materials needed:
Orange plastic bags cut into 1 inch strips for plarn (approx 25 newspaper sacks used)
1) Plastic frozen dinner dinner tray with the rim cut off
(One used in project was 6-3/4 inches long & 3-1/2″ wide)
Hooks:
G (4-4.25 mm) sized metal hook for base row only
J (6 mm) sized metal hook
Description: Recycled Plastic Halloween Trick or Treat Bag
Bag measures 7 inches long, 5 inches wide and 6 inches tall with 8-1/2″ handles
Directions:
Using the tray after cutting off the rim, punch holes around the base as shown in the photo.
I used a heavy duty hole punch to put the holes around the base.
I crocheted this pink and orange striped tote bag from recycled plastic bags. The pink and orange bags are newspaper bags and the white bags are just normal plastic retail sacks. As most people know, white bags are abundant while its hard to find colorful bags but I’m lucky to obtain the pretty pink and orange bags from my local library. They save the bags that they receive their daily newspapers in and I collect them weekly.
I used my jumbo plarn beach bag pattern to crochet this bag with just a few minor changes from the original pattern. My base was a chain of 30 as I didn’t want quite as large a tote bag for this project. I also just crocheted 41 total rounds. The result is a tote bag that measures 14-1/2″ wide by 17″ long with a 30 inch long pull-through strap.
You can check out my plarn making tutorials here whether you are using newspaper plastic bags or regular plastic bags to create your plastic bag yarn.
This tote bag makes an excellent market bag as the long strap can be slipped over your shoulder or looped around your hand for carrying. You can craft this tote bag project or if you aren’t a crocheter, my pink and orange recycled plastic tote is for sale here.
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