Plastic Bag Fabric!

In this tutorial I will show you how to create a kind of fabric from a plastic bag. Disclaimer:this is not my idea this was originally on make podcasts.

Step 1 Parts list

To make your fabric you will need: A plastic bag (of course), an iron ( the ones you do laundry with), wax paper, and an ironing board. (Lovely assistant optional) May I remind you wear proper respiratory protection and use a well venelated area. This may do the same harm as spray painting, breating in or sniffing a sharpie.

Comments

[gkelly5]

Thank you! I thought the tutorial was quite clear. In fact, I made a grocery tote bag today. It took me about 4 hrs from start to finish including ferreting about for the bags and re-doing the handles which were a bit short first time round. Now that I know the process, the next one will be a lot quicker. My husband has already put his order in for one ;o) My tote used up 20 supermarket bags and is slightly larger than a supermarket bag. It's not the most stunning bag in the world, but it's serviceable and strong. The fused bag "fabric" resembles the plastic tarps you can get in the $2 shops, but not woven, obviously. I didn't have any stuff-ups fusing the bags. I used the cool end of the wool setting on my iron, since there is no rayon setting, and I used baking paper which I guess is the same as parchment paper, to sandwich the bags between when ironing.

[Ronyon]

Ive been looking for large, clear and cheap plastic panels,and this could be just the ticket!

[timewarp71]

Hi guys ! just found this site and I love it.....I am gonna try adding wax crayon shavings and see if i can add some "confetti" in the bags this way. I will let you know when i try it and see what the outcome is. I have made wallets, carrier bags, camping placemats and a liner for under my tent with this stuff. If you fuse the fabris with an iron instead of sewing, it prvents holes and makes this fabric virtually waterproof. Happy crafting.

[casey321b]

can you use freezer paper rather than wax paper?

[groksocket]

Freezer paper has plastic on one side (instead of wax) and this might fuse to your sheets. There are instructables that use freezer paper as a stencil, which is then ironed on to fabric to temporarily adhere to the t-shirt or whatever. It still might be worth a try, and maybe having a paper layer on the outside of the fabric would work okay/look nice. I might give this a go myself.

[Lego man]

I haven't tried that yet because I have no freezer paper so you can tell me how it works if you try it. Parchment paper works best I believe.

[akaleeroy]

Be careful about burning plastic!

Does anyone know if it's a problem when melting them together?

I suppose only when you burn thru and you create fumes, but we'd like some guidance here from somebody who knows this stuff...

[(seabear)]

can the fabric be dyed?

[Lego man]

I only have time to work on these things on Fridays because on Fridays I have no school. And also I'm on a First robotics team GO TEAM 60 YAAAA!!!! and Team 987.

[robotguy4]

TEAM 2090!!!! I know someone on that team.

[Lego man]

Which person may i ask?

[robotguy4]

No one you know, probably. Its a Hawaii team.

[Lego man]

Well i knew that with a quick internet serach :P what i meant is who did you know :P

[rct1113]

Oh, cool. I'm in FIRST, too. Go team 1123!

[peytonjr]

how stiff or flexible is the finished product?

[animan1]

its not bad if you do 8 ply its strong and flexibl but 64 cant move well :)

[peytonjr]

ok cool. Im thinking of making some of this and then vacuum forming it :D

[Zem]

Nice way to recycle plastic bags! But what do you do with the scraps? (Handles and bottom)

[animan1]

toss them into a pile then make a collosse

[Lego man]

Sometimes I fuse them into strips and if i need a strengthened piece of fabric i will fuse it to that to reinforce like "re-bar"

[Zem]

Oooh, cool thanks.

[pyrotechnical]

whooooo! go MAKE! i saw the podcast then made this for biking. The podcasts were so much better with Bre. When i have some free time i'm gunna start on a different type of messenger bag.

[Lego man]

Yeah it was better when Bre was in it cause not all his projects were from MAKE magazine. I like Kipkays vids because i got to see how either how the project i wanted to do turned out or help me with things i didn't completely understand.

[teoeva]

I'm just wondering about making that kind of fabric more resistant.... what about using the same "structure" of duct tape? plastic - fabric net - plastic could work good a fabric reinforcing will make it more resistant ...

[Lego man]

Hmm I have never thought about that. That sounds like a good plan if you can get the fabric net into the plastic, I'm pretty sure it would work if you put the net in between 2 pieces of the plastic then fused it together. I will have to try it myself......Usually I will use the scraps as reinforcement but its prolly not as good as a net and it doesn't make the fabric as flexible.

[RadiantLux]

I've been crocheting plarn into purses. The drawback is that crocheted things have lots of holes. Certain items might fall through the bottom of the purse. I wonder if this "fabric" would make a nice purse liner?

[Lego man]

Yes it works very nicely as one if you are able to make it with no holes and to the right dimensions inside the purse. I recently made one for the plastic bag purse i made for my sister and it even waterproofed the inside.

[gingerandtu]

so I have been researching food safe plastics. I found that most shopping bags are made from #2 HDPE plastic, which is FDA approved food safe. Do we think it is safe to use these fused bags for food storage?? Anyone??? Thanks!

[Lego man]

.Yeah I'm pretty sure. It doesn't change the molecular structure (thats what i was told) so it should be as safe as using a new plastic bag.

[seejanerun]

i have never heard of this....very neat. the one thing i would say that would be helpful is how this would be helpful, say like what you would use plastic fabric....

[masterochicken]

What can I use this for.

[gamer]

anything, use your imagination. think something up. while reading this instructable, i though of almost 15 things to do with it. -gamer

[masterochicken]

mind posting them?

[gamer]

no problem. 1. a pillow 2. a inflatable chair (need a lot of bags) 3. bookbag 4. gift wrapping 5. makeing stronger plastic bags 6. heat shrink tubeing (i think it might work) 7. tarps to cover stuff (car, 4 wheeler, snomobeale) 8. rain coat 9. coin collection holders 10. homemade tape (add glue to bottom) 11. laptop case/bag 12. sholder strap for something (camera bag) i can't remember the others, but i think that'll be enough. -gamer

[Lego man]

Actually I accidentally found this: If you use the irons full heat on the bag while it is thick it can become shrink tubing. I bet it would work curled up too.

[Joanassie]

There IS a spell checker...

[gamer]

There WASN'T a spell checker back in December.... -gamer

[masterochicken]

I finally thought of something to make with this.

[casey321b]

I decided I could use bent cardboard to make a hat. Since its waterproof (plastic is water proof duh) the cardboard wouldn't like get wet in the shade of the hat. Another one is in a survival kit to make a water pouch that you can hold water in. maybe with a bottle top that you can unscrew. ill give you pics wen I'm finished

[Lego man]

What is it? Its been 5 months, thats a good long time to think something up.