With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, here is a cute recycled plastic Valentine’s heart bag that you can crochet. It’s made from recycled plastic grocery bags into a handy bag that can hold Valentine cards. When I designed this recycled bag, I had a little girl in mind and thought she could use it to take all her Valentines to school in.
It would also make a cute gift bag for Valentine’s Day. You could fill it with candy and a card and give it to your favorite Valentine. A bonus of course is that this plarn bag could be used as a little purse all year long.
Here is the free crochet pattern so you too can create this fun little Valentine’s Day heart bag!
Free Pattern for Crocheted Valentine Heart Bag
Materials needed: One ball of plastic bag yarn aka Plarn
(Approx. 12 plastic grocery bags)
2 yards of red fun fur yarn
Small scrap piece of red felt
Red thread for sewing on heart
Hook: J (6 mm) size metal crochet hook
Description: Plastic Valentine’s Bag
Bag measures 7 inches wide and 6-1/2 inches long
Directions:
Ch 20
For my first post of the year, I bring you the green shopping bag. This is a true green crafting idea in every sense of the word. It is crocheted from recycled plastic grocery bags into plarn, then of course it’s green in color, and lastly it is eco-friendly as it saves the use of plastic bags as you can reuse this roomy bag over and over again.
This crocheted shopping bag is created in three pieces and then assembled as shown in the photos below. As always, I offer the free recycled plastic bag pattern below. Enjoy!
All photos are clickable to supersize
Assembly of main piece to long strip
Free Green Shopping Bag Pattern
Materials needed:
One large ball of plastic bag yarn or Plarn
Approx. 80 plastic grocery bags
Hook: N (9 mm) size metal crochet hook
Description: The Green Shopping Bag
Bag measures 12-1/2″ wide, 15-1/2″ tall and 6-1/2″ deep with 14″ handles
Directions:
This shopping bag is crocheted in 3 pieces. A front and back piece and one long strip that runs down the side, across the bottom and back up the other side of the bag.
Main pieces (make two for the front and back of your bag.)
Ch 30.
What better way to have a green Christmas than to handcraft your own Christmas gift bags from recycled materials. Maybe you need a small bag for a gift card. Well check out this cute little gift bag crocheted from recycled plastic bags.
Crafting with recycled plastic bags is also known as plarn. If you need to know how to make plarn, check out this picture tutorial. You can crochet this gift bag using plarn with this free pattern .
Maybe you need a larger gift bag. If so, here is a Christmas tote bag crocheted from recycled plastic grocery bags. This roomy tote bag would make a wonderful gift bag for a book or other flat items. Here is the link to the free crochet pattern for this tote bag.
Please consider this eco-friendly way to gift wrap your presents this year. Recycling plastic bags, upcycling them into reusable bags, and not using traditional gift wrap does truly make it a greener Christmas for everyone.
Here is my latest recycled plarn tote bag. It is a roomy tote bag that features a nearly 4 inch wide flat bottom. This allows your tote to stand up on its own. I used a new stitch in this crocheted plastic bag project which is called the spike stitch. You crochet down into the prior row to create a long stitch that looks like a spike. I worked a spike stitch every 4th stitch to make a decorative blue stripe on my tote bag.
This bag also features longer handles. I’ve had requests for longer handles on my tote bags so I crocheted this bag with 18 inch handle straps. Of course if you use this tote for groceries, it will stretch even longer. With these longer handles, you can put it over your shoulder while carrying the tote bag.
Here is a closeup photo of the flat bottom of my recycled plastic tote.
So grab your crochet hook and crochet yourself a spike stitch tote bag today. As always, happy green crafting to all!
Free Spike Stitch Plarn Tote Pattern
Materials needed:
One large ball of plastic bag yarn aka Plarn
Approx. 50-60 plastic grocery bags – Brown/tan in color
One smaller amount of blue plarn – Approx. 10-15 bags
Hook: N (9 mm) metal crochet hook
Description: Recycled Plarn Tote Bag
Bag measures 13 inches wide and 13 inches tall with 18 inch handles and nearly 4 inch wide flat bottom
Directions:
Ch 28 with brown plarn.
Barbie has a pretty new yellow plarn dress. This crochet project is a follow-up to my red Barbie dress I made with regular yarn. I used a similar pattern style but did have to make several changes for the dress to work up correctly using recycled plastic bags as yarn. Using the bags as yarn is much more difficult than regular yarn, but I was pleased with my final version shown here.
Photo is clickable to view supersized
If you are new to crocheting with recycled plastic bags, here is the link on how to create plarn from those old plastic grocery sacks. And if you’re not into crocheting with plastic bags, here is the link to my free red Barbie dress pattern that is made with regular worst acrylic yarn.
But for everyone else, here is my free yellow Barbie dress pattern. Enjoy!
**************************************************************
Barbie Yellow Plarn Dress Pattern
Materials:
Approx. 10 Yellow plastic bags until into Plarn
1 small button
Hook:
G (4 mm) size crochet hook
Ch 13.
I have been working on this market bag with a netting type look. The bottom is crocheted with a Half Double Crochet stitch to give it a nice sturdy base. The bottom is also expandable up to 7 inches which provides lots of room for those larger items as shown. I designed this recycled tote bag to be used for a grocery market bag but it would also be an outstanding beach bag.
Please enjoy this market bag project!
Pictures are clickable to view full-sized.
Free Recycled Net Market Bag Pattern
Bag measures 14 inches wide at top and 13 inches long
Straps are each 18 inches long
Materials: One large ball of plarn (plastic bag yarn) Appox. 40-45 bags
Picture tutorial is found here on how to make plarn
Hook: Metal N (9 mm) size crochet hook
Chain 24
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!
*********************************************************************************************
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
Click to supersize photo
For all you rug lovers out there, I have a new recycled plarn rug pattern to share. It’s crocheted in the round and I used several different shades of creme, tan, and brown bags to create an earth tone look. These plastic rugs crocheted from recycled plastic bags make great boot or doormat rugs as you can just hose them off and hang to dry. Remember do not put these in the dryer as it will melt the plastic.
So grab those plastic bags, a big N crochet hook and lets do some recycled green plarn crafting!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Free Crocheted Round Plarn Rug Pattern
Materials needed:
Several balls of plastic bag yarn or plarn in creme, tan, and browns
Hook: N (9 mm) U.S. size metal hook
Description: Earth tone round rug measures 19 inches wide
Directions:
Using Creme colored plastic bags (plarn) Ch 4, join to form ring.
I create this mini shoulder bag quite awhile ago and just never wrote up the pattern. Well I recently sold a few of these and decided I should write up the crochet pattern to share it here. It’s a quick little project and it only takes about 12-15 plastic bags to complete.
This cute little shoulder bag measures 6.5 inches wide by 5.5 inches long with 36 inch strap. It is of course crocheted from recycled plastic bags or plarn. It makes a wonderful little girl’s purse or a handy little shoulder bag to hold your ID along with a few small items.
As always here is the free recycled bag pattern and please enjoy this green crafting project!
*******************************************************************************
Crocheted Mini Recycled Plastic Shoulder Bag Pattern
Purse measures 6-1/2 inches wide and 5-1/2 inches long.
Strap length is 36 inches when not tied.
Material:
One ball of plastic bags cut into 1 inch strips.
One button 3/4 inch button shown on bag.
Hook: Metal N (9 mm) crochet hook
Chain 16
Recent Comments