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1. 

   

   Cut the bags down the side seams with scissors and undo the bottom pleat to make a long rectangle of material. Four to eight bags layered together make a nice laminate, depending on the thickness of each bag.

2. 

   

   Most plastic grocery bags are a little too flimsy for this project, so gather some sturdy plastic bags like the kind you get at your favorite clothing stores. Looking for a pleasing mix of colors and graphics.




3. 

   

   Layer the bags one on top of the other and secure them with clothespins to keep them from shifting. Heat your iron to medium high. Put a layer of baking parchment over your ironing board and on top of the stack of plastic bags. Iron from the center outward, being careful to iron each section thoroughly for 30 to 60 seconds. Let the paper cool until it comes off the surface easily and check the fabric to ensure that it's fully laminated. If it isn't, iron it again.




4. 

   

   Trim your laminated plastic fabric into a long rectangle that's about 9 x 30 inches (22.8 x 76.2 cm). Fold the rectangle in half and crease the bottom edge.

5. 

   

   Now fold down the front half of your material to create a rabbit-ear pleat or gusset along the bottom edge of the bag as shown in pictures 5 and 6.




6. 

   

   This pleat will create a nice roomy bag that can stand on it's own. The excess material at the top will create the fold-over flap at the top of your finished bag.

7. 

   

   Flatten and crease the bag into shape.

8. 

   

   To make the side seams, place a wooden ruler or straightedge about 5/8 inch (1.6 cm) in from the edges. The wooden edge will ensure that the heat of the iron melts together only the side seams and doesn't fuse the bag front to back. Make sure the top flap of your bag is open and doesn't get ironed into the seam. Protect your iron and board with parchment, then iron the seams together on both sides until they're completely fused. Take special care to iron the sides of the pleat, as there are several layers to fuse.

9. 

   

   You can decorate the top flap of your bag by cutting fun shapes (stars, circles, words, initials, etc.) out of plastic bags and ironing them on. Take care to protect the other parts of your bag when you iron on the decorations so you don't accidentally fuse other parts of the bag together. Add a dot of self-adhesive hook-and-loop tape to close the flap if you like.

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Katia Ruby

09 Jul 15:36

I <3 eco-awesome!

Really nice!

Steffi

09 Jul 20:18

I love em! Very nice :)

Arty KitKat

09 Jul 21:43

These are really cool. I'm definitely going to add these to my to make list :) Thanks for posting this.

Ginger Ginger.

10 Jul 00:05

That is tooo cool!

Jet H.

10 Jul 15:01

great solution and great project i love it. tahnks

Jane C.

13 Jul 13:50

Smart, cute and eco-shic!

Crystal C.

13 Jul 18:25

i love it. i recently tried my hand at fusing but wasn't sure what to make out of it when i had the finished project. i ended up making it into a giftbag for a present for mother's day. i love this lunch bag idea. thanks!

crafty countess

14 Jul 21:32

this never worked for me....sigh

erika s.

27 Oct 04:09

thats so cool! im going to try it

Posted By:
Eco Craft »
July 09, 2009 14:26

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Popular tags: Dressmaking / Tailoring, Revamping, Painting & Decorating, Clothing & Fabric, Decorating, Halloween, Christmas, and Costumes & Cosplay

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