What is the most popular common item that pollutes natural environment? Without doubt, it is the plastic bag. The plastic bag is the most usual and integral part of our life. Sometimes, we do not pay attention to the fact that every store provides us with packs of plastic bags. They are used as sacks or wraps of food products and all other kinds of goods. There is hardly a person who does not carry her goods from a shop in a small or big plastic bag. When you enter a supermarket, you take a plastic bag automatically in order to keep apples, potatoes, oranges or biscuits there. An average customer takes more than ten plastic bags being in a supermarket. Thus, a supermarket uses thousands of bags daily. A chain of supermarkets uses millions of plastic bags annually. When we take a plastic bag, we do not think about its fate. We do not think about the problems that can occur when we throw it away. The effect of this action is dramatic whereas this item requires hundreds of years to be recycled in the natural way. Therefore, billions of plastic bags pollute seas, oceans, rivers and soil. Very often, plastic bags are found in the stomachs of fish, birds and wild animals. Needless to say but such a simple thing as a plastic bag can kill an animal. What is more, plastic bags spoil the general view of our streets and parks. Although they do not cause harm directly, the view of lying plastic bags in the street is not aesthetic. Thereof, it is vital to collect plastic bags and utilize them making our planet cleaner.
The best way to stop the enormous rates of littering is to recycle plastic bags inasmuch as they are the main sources of pollution. Many people think that it is impossible to recycle plastic bags. Others think that plastic bags are ecologically unsafe and they prefer using paper bags. In fact, scientists have proved that plastic bags are safe and more profitable than paper bags. According to the latest information, no more than 0.5% of one barrel of oil is used for the production of all plastic bags that are used in the USA. For that reason, plastic bags are more economical whereas a paper bag requires 70% more energy for its production. Consequently, paper bags contribute into the increase of the rates of global warming process. In addition, natural gas and oil is not as considerable as wood.
How can one recycle plastic bags?
Here is my Crochetville bag that I was the proud recipient of from Mary Jo in September 2012. Each month Mary Jo aka Tampa Doll makes one of her famous tote bags and gives it to some lucky person on Crochetville. I was so excited when I received my bag. It’s just so cool and such a wonderful gift to receive from another crocheter.
One of the things Mary Jo tells you when you receive her bag is that you may want to line it. Because it is crocheted, it does have holes in the tote bag that small items can fall out of. I was being carefully but did have my crochet hook slip out of the bag a few times and figured I had better line my bag.
I chose some cotton fabric and measured my bag to begin making my lining.
Several people have asked for a picture tutorial on how I lined my pink passion plarn purse. So here are a few pictures I took and I will walk you through a brief explanation on how to line a plarn purse.
I basically create a pocket to slip inside my plarn purses to line them. I simply cut a piece of fabric for the lining and with right sides together and sew it together. Here is the completed lining I made for the recycled Pink Passion Plarn Purse which includes two pockets and a magnetic closure.
First step is to lay out the completed purse on the fabric lining as shown. The bottom of the purse lining is placed on the fold line of the fabric.
Today I want to share a recycled milk jug project that I saw over at Disney Family Fun. By cutting a milk jug you can create a reusable container that you can use for a lunch box or other purposes. All you need is a plastic one gallon milk jug, a sharp pair of scissors, a marker, a nail or thumb tack, a button and a bit of yarn.
Mark your milk jug as shown and use a sharp pair of scissors to cut away the top and handle portion of the jug.
My first attempt was done free hand and I found it difficult to get my shape even when I marked the jug for cutting. I made this little template below and used it as a guide for marking the jug on my 2nd attempt. Just hold it up to the milk jug to help you mark the shape for your cuts.
It’s very important that you cut up high to the top of the milk jug opening to get the curved flap area for your lunch box. I used a small sharp nail to push the holes through on the plastic to create the folds for the flaps. My milk jug had a natural line molded in the plastic that I used for the line for my holes. Once the holes are punched, you can fold over the flaps along the punched edges.
The original recycled craft project called for a Velcro closure but I wanted to create a simple closure using some spare buttons I had on hand along with a scrap of yarn.
A few months ago you may remember that I made my first batch of homemade laundry soap. In my first attempt I felt my original soap recipe was a bit too runny and I wanted to try the process again
In this new batch of soap, I made a more concentrated soap by using less water. It’s still liquidy but not so watery which I like much better. I tweaked the original recipe and this is my newest recipe for a more concentrated homemade laundry soap.
Supplies:
Large metal cooking pot at least 4 quarts or bigger
2 gallon plastic bucket for final soap container
1/2 bar of Fels-Naptha laundry soap
1/2 cup Arm & Hammer washing soda
1/2 cup 20 Mule Team borax powder
6-7 drops of essential oil (Optional)
Directions:
Grate 1/2 of the bar of Fels-Naptha soap and place in cooking pot. Add 6 cups water and heat gently over low to medium-low heat stirring occasionally until the soap melts. Turn heat to low, add the washing soda and the borax stirring until all ingredients are dissolved.
Pour 4 cups of very hot water into the plastic bucket. Now quickly add the cooked soap mixture to the plastic bucket mix and stir well. I added 6-7 drops of lemon essential oil to the mix at this point. This is an optional ingredient but the bit of oil gave my final soap just a hint of fragrance. Now add 1 gallon of hot water to the plastic bucket mix and stir well again. Let the soap mixture sit at least 24 hours to gel.
This recipe resulted in a much less watery soap mix and I use 1/3 cup of soap in my top-loading large washer. For best results I place the soap in the washer and use a little hot water to dissolve the soap before placing my clothes into the washer. As a reminder this soap can be used for stain treatments by either pre-soaking or spot treat the stain directly with a small amount of soap before washing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is with great pleasure that I present to you my new and improved pattern page here at My Recycled Bags. With the help of my son, we have updated the old page with a thumbnail photo of each project and tutorial for easier access. The page is laid out by categories and materials now so you can quickly navigate the list of projects that you may be in search of.
It was fun and interesting as I went back over the nearly 5 years of patterns and posts that I have created here at my blog. I had forgotten about some of the older less used patterns as well as re-visiting the early creations I made with recycled materials.
So without further ado here is My Pattern Links page. I hope you enjoy using it and find it easier to locate my many different patterns that I provide free here at My Recycled Bags.
I have wanted to make my own laundry soap for so long. I finally assembled the materials and supplies necessary to make my first batch of homemade laundry soap. Below I have outlined the process and results I obtained from my first attempt at laundry soap making.
After researching and reading many blog posts about making ones own laundry soap, I settled on the recipe that uses washing soda, borax, and Fels-Naptha bar soap. There are many different recipes with a few different changes for each homemade laundry soap if you research it. I followed this blog’s homemade laundry recipe to make my laundry soap using the following supplies to make a 2 gallon bucket of soap.
Supplies:
Large metal cooking pot at least 4 quarts or bigger
2 gallon plastic bucket for final soap container
1/3 bar of Fels-Naptha laundry soap
1/2 cup Arm & Hammer washing soda
1/2 cup 20 Mule Team borax powder
Directions:
Grate 1/3 of the bar of Fels-Naptha soap and place in cooking pot. Add 6 cups water and heat gently over low to medium-low heat stirring occasionally until the soap melts. Remove from heat. Then add the washing soda and the borax stirring until all ingredients are dissolved.
Pour 4 cups hot water into the plastic bucket. Now add the cooked soap mixture to the plastic bucket mix and stir well. Add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water to the plastic bucket mix and stir well again. Let the soap mixture sit at least 24 hours to gel. It doesn’t gel to a firm consistency but more like a runny egg white. I use about a half of a cup of soap to wash in my extra large top loader washer. The soap works great on spots too if you just apply a bit to any stains on your clothes.
Below you will find additional photos that show each step from above. Click on any photo to super-size it.
Here is 1/3 of a Fels Naptha bar of soap grated and ready for the cooking stage.
6 cups of water added for the cooking stage.
Homemade laundry soap with all water added and stirred in bucket.
Final result of laundry soap after setting up for 2 days.
Bottom line on this homemade soap — I love it. It works well and if you add a half cup of white vinegar to your final rinse cycle you won’t have any static cling and my line-dried clothes were soft too. I do think when I make this again I will cut down on the water to make a more concentrated soap. My final soap mix was a bit too runny but still works fine. I think if you add just the 1 gallon of water at the end and eliminate the last 6 cups of water, you would end up with a much better consistency of soap. Also this laundry soap is a low sudsing soap so don’t be alarmed when you don’t see […]
I recently crocheted a six point round ripple and the center was bowl-shaped. So I looked around for a picture tutorial on how I might block the crocheted afghan. I haven’t tried blocking an afghan before as usually they lay flat but this one had an issue and I was so hoping that I could straighten it out by blocking it.
After looking around the Internet, I read several different tips on how I might do the blocking but nothing with photos. Well as I’m a visual type person, I wanted photos with step-by-step instructions. After reading a few ideas, I set out on my own and created my own picture tutorial for blocking my rumpled-up afghan.
Here is my round ripple baby afghan before blocking. As you may see, the center is all rumped up and isn’t laying flat at all.
I put down a plastic garbage bag on the carpet and then placed my afghan on it. I gently stretched the points and center and then pinned it down into the carpet to flatten it. Put your pins in at an angle to hold down your blanket as you stretch it. Push down on the center to flatten it further and move your pins to stretch the afghan until it is laying down as flat as you can get it.
Next dampen your afghan with a wet cloth or use a spray bottle to gently wet the material. With the cloth or your hand, flatten the center down and move the pins as needed to stretch the blanket flat. Move the wet cloth around as shown to moisten the yarn so it blocks evenly.
After dampening and flattening your afghan, allow it to dry completely before removing the pins and moving the blanket off the plastic. The next day my blanket was dry so I removed all the pins and the blocking was very successful as this baby afghan is relatively flat and looks much better now.
I hope you find this blocking tutorial useful. Blocking can be a great way to fix those round ripple and star afghans that just don’t like to lay flat after you finish them. Take heart and try my blocking tutorial to fix your projects should you need a little flattening.
I present my first recycled soda pop tab bracelet. I crocheted these two bracelets using some lightweight yarn that I received in a swap. The yarn was a bit thin so I doubled it up to crochet these bracelets.
Here is the link for the original soda tab crochet pattern that my bracelets were based upon. My friend Kristy created a video which was really helpful for me to understand how to assemble the bracelet using the recycled soda pop tabs. You can view Kristy’s video tutorial below.
I used 12 tabs on one bracelet and 13 on the next one to make it a bit larger. I also added a leaf to the one stitch on the top bracelet. The original pattern calls for 12-14 tabs. Just check the fit of your bracelet as outlined in the video for the correct number needed for your project.
Recent Comments