I always try to use my Bag-for-Life, but despite my best efforts I always seem to accumulate lots of plastic bags, so fusing them to make something new seemed like a good idea!! I found this great tutorial by A Fanciful Twist and tried it out for myself to make a Pencil Case!
- Plastic Bags
- Iron
- Baking/Parchment Paper
- Sewing Materials
- Velcro (optional)
Start by cutting the top and bottom off each carrier bag, so that you can lay it flat and cut up the sides. Lay these onto a bottom piece of baking parchment and smooth them as flat as possible. I used eight layers of plastic (4 whole bags) but you can experiment with different levels of thickness.
Place a second piece of baking paper on top (making sure that all the plastic is covered) and start ironing. I used the hottest setting on my iron and kept turning the whole thing over to make sure that the layers fused together evenly. Be warned that the plastic will shrink quite a lot!
This will leave you with a sheet of plastic 'fabric' and you can play around with different patterns, colours and shapes.
I decided that I liked the sheet I'd made by layering white and orange carrier bags, so trimmed this to size to give a front and back for my pencil case. The back was longer so that this could be folded over. I left the wavy bit at the top as I liked the effect!
I machine sewed the bottom and up each side, using a zig zag stich (I would recommend using a slightly longer stitch and not pinning it, as unlike fabric the holes will stay!) The fastening was made using two pieces of velcro and I decorated with butterflies punched out from the green fused plastic.
We are linking up to these parties!
19th August 2013: Update - this post was featured here at Love 2 Upcycle
21st August 2013: Update - this post was featured here at A Life in Balance
Thanks for the tips. This is great way to use these bags that end up being filled with garbage and in the landfill.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I agree it's always good to try and find another use for things 😊
DeleteToo cute and perfect timing for back to school. Thanks for linking up to the Upcycled Linky Party at http://love2upcycle.blogspot.com/2013/08/upcycled-linky-party-20.html.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tricia, always enjoy visiting your great linky party!
Deleteturned out sooooo cool looking!
ReplyDeleteThanks, I was pleasantly surprised at how it turned out!!
Deletevery clever and good clear instructions
ReplyDeleteThanks Heather, I'm glad you liked it!
DeleteWhat a great idea! I would love for you to share it on the Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop going on now!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thecasualcraftlete.com/2013/08/11/frugal-crafty-home-blog-hop-35/
Thanks!
Katie @thecasualcraftlete.com
Thanks for the invite Katie, we would love to share on your Blog Hop! x
DeleteA fantastic looking pencil case, and very eco-friendly too.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lucy! x
DeleteFantastic idea. I once made a brooch using the same method.
ReplyDeleteThanks Anita, that's a great idea to make a brooch with it! x
DeleteThanks & welcome Allie! Your blog is fab! x
ReplyDeleteI would have never thought of using plastic bags like this. What a great idea!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jennifer, I really enjoyed trying something new! x
DeleteWhat a cute idea to do instead of a regular ol' pencil box! Thanks for linking up to Thrifty Thursday!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ruth, it certainly is something different! x
DeleteYou are so cool!! What an awesome idea can't wait to show my daughter this! :) Michelle
ReplyDeleteThanks Michelle! Hope your daughter likes it too :) x
DeleteI am doing these for my school wearable arts competition. I'm glad I have found another item instead of clothing that I can make out of the ironed sheets. I was thinking maybe a patchwork pencil case would be cool too.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your competition, we'd love to hear how you get on! A patchwork pencil case does sound cool :) x
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