Plarn Market Bag

Here is my latest creation! A beautiful and functional plarn market bag

For this bag, I used bags from a store where you get "ingredients for life" : ), hence, the color scheme of white with touches of red and black.  I started by crocheting a rectangle base in single crochet, and then worked in rounds in half double crochet up the sides, decreasing a few times to taper up to the top and give it a nice shape. I didn't take any pictures of the process,  but here is a really nice tutorial on making plarn with shopping bags-http://www.myrecycledbags.com/2007/02/17/instructions-for-cutting-plastic-bags-creating-recycled-plastic-yarn/ 

Thanks for stopping by my blog! : )

https://www.etsy.com/shop/UpcycleCrochet 

The Making of a Cute Flower Pot Basket

It all started with a humble milk carton! With the top chopped off : )

And now, it's a really cute flower pot cover! I didn't take too many pictures of the process, well, actually, none, except for the one of the milk carton above. : ) But, if you look at the other tutorials for the rag bags, you can see the basic process of cutting t-shirts into yarn. I used portions of a tank top, a lightweight sweater, and a pair of shorts!

I began with a granny square for the base, and then single crocheted around the edge, decreasing at the corners, skipping the three single crochets in each corner, in order to make the sides go up the basket, or sides of the milk carton.

You can see the nice little lining here

Geraniums are so pretty!

The parts seperated

And, it doubles as a storage basket!

And now it lives in my Etsy Shop-https://www.etsy.com/shop/UpcycleCrochethttps://www.etsy.com/shop/UpcycleCrochet

Hip Bag- Here's how I did it!:)

Here's the supplies! Some well loved clothing....

Cut the top and bottom off the shirt......

Just making the t-shirt yarn, cutting almost to the top, leave about an inch. (This picture is upside down!)

Used some pretty embroidery thread, one of my Grandpa's yard sale finds!

Back to the yarn, draped it over my arm for easier cutting.

Making the diagonal cuts

Ta Da! Yarn!

Thought I'd try and use the sleeve too, was a little difficult, but I did get some usefull pieces out of it.

So here's a lot of pretty fabric yarn! I was going to put the floss with the lavender, but decided to work it along with the white, which turned out really nice. : )

Also added in a little produce bag plarn.

Planning out the embellishments, which is always fun!

This is how I added on the strap.

A little blurry! But all finished, and ready to embellish.

Starting out one of the fabric roses

Adding some trim from an indian blouse

Finished embellishment! I really like this button

Back view

So, there you go! Hope you enjoyed all the pictures as much as I enjoyed making it : )
Here's the link to this bag in my etsy shop-------
https://www.etsy.com/listing/125576198/eco-chic-hip-bag-in-springtime-white-and?

Springtime Hip Bag!

Here is my latest finished project,:).  I love the colors, will post more on the making of it.

Eco Chic Rag Bag: Step by Step!

                        Eco Chic Rag Bag : Step by Step!

Started with some well-loved shirts and shorts! And, some inflatable packing (Thanks Mom!)

The t-shirt, you start with cutting off the top section under the arms............

And then cut of the hem on the bottom, (which later became a beautiful grey rose!)

I like to cut the shirt into 1/2 inch wide strips.

This time I didn't stop at an inch or so before the fold, I just cut all the way through so I could work with loops of fabric.

There's all the loops.........

Oh! A pair of shorts? What can we do with those?

Cut off the "legs".........

And cut them up into 1/2 in. strips also, and left them in loops too. Although I ended up detaching the loops and using them as strips for part of the project.

And here is our lovely inflatable packing.:) I love how it has blue in it too! First I cut off one edge, to let the air out so it will lay flat.

Then you can easily fold it up to cut into strips, about the same width as the fabric ones.

Here you have all your lovely fabric and plastic loops and strips. Ready to make something cool!!

The method I used to attach the loops I tried to capture with these pictures, hopefully this is helpful.

 As you crochet,when you come to the end of the strip of fabric, add the new one, inserting it into the previous one like this........

Then take the end of the new strip, insert it into the other end...

And pull together..........

                                   Like this!

So, here is the bag, at it's early stages.

Coming along a little more, (and there's my cup of tea!)

I thought I would also show how I made one of the roses for the bag, ( I was going to show how I made both of them, but, I got so excited to finish it, that I forgot to take pictures!) But, here is a piece of the top hem of the back pocket from the shorts, that is going to become a rose!

Fold over one edge, like so........

Then you can stitch it down, and use the needle and thread to also make a big running stitch along the fabric.

And just kind of roll and gather the fabric, and reposition it however you think it looks good, or resembles a flower!

  And here is the finished embellishment!

                And the finished Rag Bag!

                                                   Pretty roses! :) And those cute buttons!

  Here's the back view too.........

This is a really nice sized bag, my biggest one I've made so far.


Hope you enjoyed my little tutorial! I had fun making it, and making the bag itself. Maybe this will give you some ideas on how to use some well-loved clothes you might have around!

Here's a link to the Etsy Shop, where you can also see my other items.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/UpcycleCrochet