Crocheted plastic bags

[cherrybee]

At the moment I am in the middle of doing crochet. I haven't crocheted for years and then it was just squares. Can I hear you say what's that to do with recycling? Well I am using plastic carrier bags. I learnt about this at The Polar Bear club which I attend fortnightly. It is for Bi polar sufferers but also anyone with mental health problems .It is a lovely place for support and help as the members there know how you feel. The founder member of the club does a lot of crochet and she decided one day to crochet bags made of plastic bags.They came out so well and started selling like hotcakes so she could raise funds for the club.She suggested I might like to join her at a bag making project at the local community college to see if it would interest me as they make bags out of recycled and waste materials.I attended and there were pupils from the school making bags as well as Wynn and myself using strips of carrier bags and crocheting the strips.What better way to save the environment and my sanity. To get a better idea of what I am talking about here is a link to explain. It is only one part of Exmouth's ideas for sustainable living in the 21st century. I thought you might all be interested

Plastic bag Free | Transition Town Exmouth | A Solution to Climate Change and Peak Oil

Later i will try to get photos of Wynns bags.A local cafe and market have offered to sell them for her to raise her funds

[tameblackbirds]

What a good idea I try hard to use my Hessian bags, but your bags sound great. Look forwards to your pictures.

Reading the site it mentions sewing machine do all the bags require one to finish the bags off?

[cherrybee]

Originally Posted by tameblackbirds

What a good idea I try hard to use my Hessian bags, but your bags sound great. Look forwards to your pictures.

Reading the site it mentions sewing machine do all the bags require one to finish the bags off?

Not the ones that are made from plastic bags obviously. Some of the machines used are electric and belong to the school there are only about 5 machines.Wynn, whose idea to crochet or knit plastic bags also has had old hand machines donated to the cause and she knows someone who services them and gets parts for them to get them up to scratch. Anyone who makes a bag can keep them for themselves and donate towards the materials or as it says in the article they can donate what they make and whatever it sells for they get half of the profit.
A quote from the article
"To help us with our goal of reducing our carbon footprint Wyn has helped us to purchase 3 hand powered sewing machines; this means we can make bags from industrial waste without using electricity- then sell them locally so no fuel will be used in transport."

[tameblackbirds]

Originally Posted by cherrybee

Not the ones that are made from plastic bags obviously. Some of the machines used are electric and belong to the school there are only about 5 machines.Wynn, whose idea to crochet or knit plastic bags also has had old hand machines donated to the cause and she knows someone who services them and gets parts for them to get them up to scratch. Anyone who makes a bag can keep them for themselves and donate towards the materials or as it says in the article they can donate what they make and whatever it sells for they get half of the profit.
A quote from the article
"To help us with our goal of reducing our carbon footprint Wyn has helped us to purchase 3 hand powered sewing machines; this means we can make bags from industrial waste without using electricity- then sell them locally so no fuel will be used in transport."

brilliant! It's a shame that some of our major stores don't start selling them and giving the money to charity

[Hedge Witch]

Yes, I absolutely agree, it's a wonderful idea, cherrybee. I'd love to see pictures of the finished products

[cherrybee]

Well hopefully when I go to the meeting at Wyns home on Wednesday I will be able to borrow the photos of the different styles made to scan them. I started to crochet a bag from the carrier bags but I have found that my hands really hurt as I have arthritis in my wrist and some fingers and They feel painful. So I might have a go at sewing some bags with the hand machines instead, with the materials donated.

[SilverLass]

What a great idea! I'll be interested to see the pictures.

[cherrybee]

Originally Posted by SilverLass

What a great idea! I'll be interested to see the pictures.

I will get them as soon as I can my friend just rang me and I cant see her Wednesday as she remembered an appointment.will post them as soon as I can

[Hobjob]

Sounds a great idea, but how do you choose which bags to use?

Many plastic bags, including those from Tescos, whilst not
biodegradeable in the rotting sense, biodegrade in the sense that
the plastic crumbles into bits after a couple of years

[Hedera]

A very good point: some are made from corn starch and fall into confetti after exposure to sunlight in a few months. How about using cut-up tights and stockings, softer to the hands and the varied shades look good. They are also very strong and will take weight.