Fused Plastic Rain Coat

Learn how to make a rain coat from fused plastic bags without a sewing machine.

After being caught in a torrential down pour during a recent trip to Venice and seeing the insane prices of a raincoat for our toddler, I recalled seeing an instructable about fusing plastic bags together to make a durable tote bag and was inspired to use fused plastic grocery bags to create a cheap rain coat. I documented the process to share as my first instructable.

You will need limited tools and material to make this jacket. Access to better tools and materials may lead to an easier process with better results. Or not, experiment and let me know.

Minimum requirements:
1. Plastic bags
2. Scissors
3. paper, (Letter-sized printer paper works, but parchment or larger craft paper would be better.)
4. clothes iron
5. pen or pencil, (Pens will write on plastic better.)

Optional items:
6. Velcro or a zipper
7. needle and thread
8. sewing machine
9. cloth tape
10. a soldering with a flat tip (This would potentially be much easier device for fusing the cut pieces together than using the clothes iron.)
11. heavy cardboard

Step 1 The Design

I tend to do things by the seat of my pants altogether too often and this project was no exception. I actually started fusing plastic bags together and piecing together the coat with very little planning or design. I had my daughter's jacket to use as a reference and attempted to copy it for my son.

I've drawn a basic design to use as reference., since you won't have convient access to my daughter's jacket for your efforts.

I like this design because it uses mostly straight lines and has a minimum number of complex curves to be attached. Straight line were important to me because without access to a sewing machine, I intended to fuse the pieces together.

Do the design full-sized on craft or crepe paper if possible, as it's better to work out the details on paper than on your plastic fabric. You can then use the full-sized deisgn as a pattern when you cut the pieces.

Comments

[RobynRavenclaw]

wish there was an instructable to do this as an adult

[jeff.pdx]

Good instructable.  I actually like the look. It can be very avant garde aesthetically. I look forward to peoples images.

[Logonautai]

It's actually a pretty good idea, reshaping plastic bags into a different envelope that fits the human body. The good thing about rain coats is that we care more about their function than we do about their looks. However, improvements on its design and appearance could still be achieved with some small adjustments. Great work and thanks! I never thought the fusing would be so simple.

[Z..]

I think this is innovative and cute,-and it's also a way to use up all those pesky plastic bags! Very ingenious! And the little fella models it well!!!

[matula]

ugly, but hey