How to Make Homemade Bags Out of Recycled Plastic Shopping Bags

Paper or plastic? That's the question you'll hear at many a store today when shopping. With the strong emphasis on going green, more and more of us are taking our own bags for shopping trips. But many shoppers wonder what to do with the collection of thin plastic shopping bags they've already accumulated. Recycling them is certainly an option if that service is available where you live, but there's another option, and it doesn't involve throwing those bags away only to have them appear in a landfill. Thin, plastic shopping bags, especially the kind used to bag groceries, can be fused together and the resulting "fabric" can be used to create waterproof bags suitable for all kinds of shopping trips, especially groceries.

Things You'll Need

• 12 thin, recyclable plastic shopping bags
• Scissors
• 2 large sheets of parchment paper or freezer paper
• Iron and ironing surface
• Sewing machine

Instructions

Fusing the Plastic to Make "Fabric" for the Homemade Bag

1. Preheat your iron to low heat suitable for rayon fabrics. On most modern irons, this setting is labeled "3" or "3.5."

2. Take a single plastic bag and turn it inside out so that any printing on the bag remains on the inside of the plastic.

3. Flatten out the plastic bag, cut off the handles and the bottom seam to form a large double-layered plastic rectangle.

4. Repeat the process of turning bags inside out, flattening them, and cutting off the bottom seams and handles until you have four rectangles of plastic (eight layers total).

5. Carefully align the plastic bags and place them between two separate sheets of freezer or parchment paper. Be sure the paper is larger than the plastic bag rectangles.

6. Run the pre-heated iron over the paper for a minimum of 20 seconds, being sure to cover all portions of the plastic rectangle, including the edges. Remember to keep the iron moving constantly.

7. Flip the paper over and repeat the ironing process for a few more seconds, again being sure to cover all portions of the plastic and include the edges.

8. Carefully peel back a corner of the paper to see if all the layers of the plastic rectangle have fused together. If any layers remain separated, repeat the ironing process on that area until they fuse.

9. Once all the plastic layers are fused, trim any edges that aren't straight to form a rectangular sheet.

10. Repeat the entire fusing process two more times, using four more bags each time. This will provide you with one fused sheet for the front of the bag, one for the back, and one for the handles.

Assembling and Sewing the Fused Sheets Into a Bag

1. Cut four strips from the longest side of one of the fused sheets. These will become the handles of the bag. Extra fused material will be left over that can be used for another project.

2. Place two of the strips together and sew all the way around the edges with a small seam allowance, no larger than 1/4 of an inch, to form the first handle. Repeat this step with the remaining two strips to form the second handle.

3. Position the ends of the handles to the top sides of the bag pieces. Place them about two inches down from the top and two to four inches from the edge. Sew the handles in place.

4. Place two of the fused sheets one on top of the other and use the sewing machine to sew along the three sides of the rectangles without the handles to form a pouch. About half an inch (or the width of the presser foot) provides enough seam allowance for a sturdy pouch bag.

5. Turn the sewn bag inside out to hide the seams.

Tips & Warnings

• Turning the plastic bags inside out prevents any ink on the bag from smearing on the paper or your ironing surface. Layering plastic bags of different colors can produce interesting effects. When fusing the bags together, keep the iron constantly in motion. Stopping the motion risks melting the plastic bags rather than fusing them. Consider cutting out extra strips of the final fused sheet in order to make long handles suitable for over-the-shoulder-carrying. Teflon plates or Teflon-coated sewing machine feet can make it easier to sew plastic without the machine catching on the plastic itself. Although you can use a straight stitch to sew each fused sheet together, a zigzag stitch may allow your bag to survive rougher use.

• Always double-check the heat level of the iron on a corner of the project first to ensure the iron is cool enough. Irons set too hot will melt the plastic and could cause injury. You may need to adjust the tension on your sewing machine to avoid the thread or the bobbin thread from coming undone.