Plastic to Fantastic -- Crocheting a Reusable Shopping Bag From Single-Use Grocery Bags

I don't know about you, but my apartment is constantly swamped by the plastic shopping bags I am given every time I buy groceries and forget my reusable bags. Well, I wanted to come up with a way to decrease the clutter, and I thought "why not crochet all of the plastic bags into one much more sturdy reusable one?" And thus this project was born! Now, I have never crocheted before, so this was my first attempt and it was so much fun! I wanted to keep the materials to a list of those you have around the house, that way this can be a little project you can start working on immediately!

The end result of this project will be a completely unique, completely recycled bag that is so much sturdier than the ones you are given at the grocery store!

Plastic shopping bags

Crochet hook (I used J/10-5.75 mm)

Paperclip

Binder clip

The first step is to transform those pesky bags into your reusable thread! To do so follow these steps that are depicted in the pictures above:

1. Fold the bag in half lengthwise and cut off the handles and bottom seam
2. Fold the bag lengthwise one more time and cut into equal width strips (you can make them whatever width you want, I have found that about 0.5 inches works pretty good)
3. Loop the circles that you made in Step 2 together to create a continuous piece of "thread"

The neat thing about looping the pieces of bags together is that you can add or remove pieces at any time!

The first step is to create the base of the bag. The width and length are completely customizable, so go as long or short as you want!

I've made a video since crocheting is a bit difficult to talk through, but here are the general steps:

1. Make a loop to use as your first stitch
2. Create slip stitches to your desired width
3. Go through the back loop of your slip stitches with single crochet stitches to make row 2
4. To turn around, use a single slip stitch
5. For rows 3-X, use single crochet stitches in the stitches of the previous row, and use slip stitches to turn around
6. Don't tie off the thread when you've got your desired width & height because you can go right into your sides with the same piece

Tips:

• Pulling on the knots where the pieces of bag are joined very gently can reduce their size and make them easier to work with
• If you need more thread, simply cut another bag and loop the ends together and continue

The second step is to build up from the base to make the sides, and I've made a video for this as well. The key of this step is that for rows 1-3, you will be skipping every 6th stitch in order to cinch the sides of your bag but rows 4-X will be just continuous single crochet stitches

1. Using the edges of your base as your previous row, perform single crochet stitches where each 6th stitch is skipped
2. If X is a used stitch and O is a skipped stitch, you'll get this pattern XXXXXOXXXXXOXXXXXOXXXXXO...
3. Keep this pattern going for rows 1-3
4. For rows 4-X (where X is your desired height), use continuous single crochet stitches where no stitch is skipped
5. Once you've reached your desired height, cut off the extra thread and tie it off

Tips:

• Using a paperclip to mark the corner you began on will help you keep track of how many rows you've done
• If your sides get too tight, you can always put two stitches into one stitch of the previous row to loosen your sides up

The last few steps I've combined into one video since they go together: handle creation and attaching it to your bag. I decided to make the handle separately for two reasons 1) I wanted more structural integrity so that the handles wouldn't rip off and 2) I saw a really cool way of making a spiral handle that I wanted to try (it might have been a bit advanced for a beginner but I think it came out great!)

Making the handle:

1. Start with 7 slip stitches and then make 5 rows of single crochet stitches
2. This will give you a width of 7 stitches and a height of 5 rows
3. To make the spiral handle portion, fold the base you've just made in half and place a single crochet stitch through one of the corner stitches
4. After this stitch, only go through the back loop of the previous row, using single crochet stitches
5. This is what will give you the spiral pattern
6. Once you've reached your desired handle width, stop at a place that is directly across from the split on the other end
7. Using a slip stitch, turn around, using the other end of the handle as a guide for when to finish your first row
8. Make 5 rows of single crochet stitches and then tie off the end

Tips:

• You can skip stitches or put in extra ones to control the width of the body of your handle

Attaching the handle:

1. Use a binder clip to hold your handle in place
2. Using your crochet hook as a sewing needle, sew the handle end and bag together
3. Use knots to secure the beginning and end pieces of thread

Tips:

• Try to go through stitches right next to each other to minimize the appearance of the stitches on the outside of the bag