Upcycled: Fused and Quilted Plastic Bags

I feel like all of the best upcycled products are bags. I’ve reviewed bags made out of old t-shirts, bags made out of contruction fencing and now here are bags made out of the hated plastic grocery bags. With all of these bags made out of waste, there is really no reason for anyone to ever purchase a non-upcycled purse or tote.

So, fused plastic bag bags. Some of the bags that I am going to show you today are made by fusing together all those unwanted plastic grocery bags. I think what makes these bags cute to me is that some of them are made with grocery bags from regional stores that we don’t have here, so they aren’t the usual ugly Safeway bags. It helps to have some bags in colors other than Safeway tan. Take a look at this green one ($45) from Scary Carrie Creates:

This lunch bag ($14) from Kim Quilts saves 9 plastic bags from a landfill. It is made by using a unique folding technique, then they are quilted over to ensure they are more durable.

She also has some larger bags ($22). The quilting really makes them cute:

A few more plastic bag finds:

Fused Wristlet ($12) from HoneyBearRecycles

Recycled Plastic Basket Organizer ($15) from Curious Doodles.

Wanna do this yourself? Personally, I wouldn’t do this myself because I worry about the fumes. I mean, how safe can it be to use an iron to fuse these plastic bags together? I would rather let others do it for me! But if you are interested in trying it out, there is an awesome tutorial on the Etsy Labs website, here. Check out a tutorial for quilted fused plastic bags over at Craftastica.

Tina Seamonster blogs her life and craft at I Like Seamonsters. She has too many bags.