Fused Plastic School Supply Bag

This fused plastic school supply bag was made by fusing plastic bags together and then sewing the material you create just as you would ordinary fabric. It's so inexpensive and fun to make. My grandson loves to shop every chance he gets at Game Stop and so we decided that we would create a really cool school supply bag out of the plastic Game Stop bags. My grandson is only seven years old and when he comes to visit we spend time in my studio crafting. Since he loves everything mechanical and is fascinated with my sewing machines I have taught him some basic sewing skills. I am surprised how quickly he has caught on. We had a great time constructing this bag and hope that you will give it a try yourself.
Please see this tutorial for "how to fuse plastic bags" http://etsylabs.blogspot.com/2007/05/long-overdue-fusing-plastic-bag.html.

Materials needed:

Sewing Machine
Iron
Parchment Paper
8 Plastic bags
Sissors
Glue stick
Ruler
Thread
14" Zipper

Step 1: Step 1 Gathering Your Plastic Bags and Preparing to Fuse Them Together

The following will be brief instructions on how to fuse the plastic bags (please see the tutorial link for more details) We used eight Target bags and one Game Stop bag. (We used another bag for the inside so that when you unzipped it you would see the design. We also used one of those heavy duty plastic shipping bags, but for this instructable just use the plastic Target and Game Stop bags) Lay the bags out flat and cut off the bottoms and handles, you will now have a tube, cut up one side so that you can open out the bag, now cut off all the red areas on the Target bags. You should have one long white piece. Now layer one on top of the other using your glue stick to adhere each piece until you have all eight pieces glued. Next, we cut out the Game Stop logos and glued them onto the plastic. Make sure that you you glue the logo very near each end. Now you are ready to fuse them together.

Comments

[admin]

Hey, this is a great instructable and is very informative. Just one thing is missing... pictures! It really helps a lot when trying to follow directions so you should consider taking some photographs. Once you do that and leave me a message when you have so that we can publish your work. Thanks! Thanks for the cool instructable and we hope to publish this soon!

[pamelatheonlygirl1]

Thanks so much for letting me know that my pictures were missing. I thought that I just couldn't see them until the instructable was okayed and publised by you. If all is okay now, can you please publish? Thank you. Pamela

[Browncoat]

Neat idea! Bet I could use this idea to make a lunch sack for my son. :)

[pamelatheonlygirl1]

Yes, you could. There is so much you can create with fused plastic. Have fun with it! Thank you for your reply.

[Browncoat]

PS Could you fuse the edges instead of sewing?

[pamelatheonlygirl1]

You could, but it's a little tricky when working with the iron. But, I did it once on a tote bag and it's held up well. I just prefer sewing. Thanks for your reply.