HOW TO MAKE BAGS OUT OF BAGS

The size of this bag is about 16 1/2 by 19 1/2.

 

HOW TO MAKE BAGS OUT OF BAGS

 

Ø  Take a clean, empty, plastic grocery bag.

Ø  Put in on a table – flat, with the handles to the left, the bottom to the right.

Ø  From the side of the bag closest to you, fold over to meet the other side – lengthwise.

Ø  Fold again.

Ø  And again.

Ø  Until you have a long, very narrow length of folded plastic.

Ø  Cut across the bottom, discarding the bottom seam.

 

·         Make cuts along the length, about every one inch (more or less depending on the strength of the plastic and how strong you need the bag to be.

·         You now should have about 10 or 12 loops of plastic – sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on the width of the original bag. Continue making loops until you have a big bowl full.

·         Take two loops and begin making a chain (like you would to make a chain of rubber bands), pulling tightly (but not too tight) so that the “connections” are as small as possible.

·         Continue to chain the loops together, rolling them into a ball as you go. That much will make a nice big ball of “plastic yarn.”

·         You can scout around for different colors of bags and make stripes using separate balls of “yarn” or just let the colors mix for fun.

·         Use a large crochet hook – decide for yourself the size that fits your needs.

 

ü  Make a chain as long as the width of the new bag.

ü  Single crochet around that chain.

ü  From there, you can just continue crocheting around and around until you have a bag.

What I usually do (because I’m always too impatient to single crochet the entire bag) is to single       crochet for several rounds, to give stability to the bottom. Then, I start double crocheting which seems a lot faster to me. But once I get almost to the top of the bag, I go back to single crocheting again for stability around the top. It is needed for the attachment of the handles.

 

For the handles, just make a chain the length of the handle you want and single crochet around it twice.

Then, attach each end to the top of the bag on one side – and do the same with the second handle.

 

HAVE FUN!

 

Jean Straatmeyer

4/6/09