bags and more bags

I am trying to catch up on creativity absences in the previous month and all I can say is there are now quite a lot of them. And quite a variety too! I made a couple of shoppers with their own pouch, sweet tote/shoulder bags and a couple of handbags which are quite simple but I am particularly proud of.

The two shoppers are sturdy reusable shopping bags that you can carry in your bag ready to use when you suddenly decide to buy some groceries. This is a 100% recycled bag using fabrics and straps reclaimed from items I bought from the Children’s Society and Cancer Research charity shops. I am still working on more reusable shopping bags from reclaimed fabrics , so watch out for them on my shop and don’t hesitate to get one for yourself!

And above is a sweet looking tote/shoulder bag I call Izzy (Isabel) Bag. Sorry for the crap photo, I was taking this in a hurry with my cybershot, I will take a much better one very soon! I made a couple more versions of these, they look fun and really cute! Who says Fall/Winter collection to be dull and monotonous?

On other things, I finally sent my swap to my partner (in the UK). I kept making stuff for her it got so delayed.

Here is what I sent and I really hope she gets it really quickly!

Tomorrow, I will be going with the whole clan and some Flickr friends from the London Flickr Meetup group to Brighton.

Above is my itinerary, which includes the priority sites I want to see. I really hope the “predominant Sunny Intervals” said by the weather forecast to be true because it would make my first visit to Brighton quite special.

Recycled: from bags to bag

6 plastic bags for body and 2 plastic bags for handle.

I like the combination, i hope it is strong enough

recycled : bag to wallet

warning: for those who have allergies, please don’t try this. use a mask if you can for long exposure to heated plastic can cause dizziness, headaches and nausea.

 

I read this blog today as well as this tutorial from etsy about one way to reuse those gruesome plastic grocery bags. I tried this to make a possible material for some eco-friendly projects. I have sainsburys and waitrose bags in abondance (cupboard is full!) and i use these.

 

The waitrose bags is a bit difficult to fuse as it is thick and it sticks on paper. Sainsbury’s bag is fine to use just use a mask.

 

Anyway, I warmed the iron to medium heat, grabbed old newspaper to cover the ironing board and two clean sheet of paper (no writing on it), scissors and the plastic bags.

 

I covered the ironing board with the old newspaper, placed the first clean sheet of paper on top of it. Then I cut off the edges from the bags and placed it well within the first clean sheet of paper, cover it with the second clean sheet of paper then iron it. Make sure to move the iron so it will be evenly melted. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes then take it off and put it aside. Do this again until the plastic is fused well.

 

Now that you have a material, imagine what you can do with it?

 

Finished with freehand machine stitching and snap attached.

 

the inside …

 

It took me around 15 minutes to finish this.

 

Now that I’ve done this, I think I will sort out the plastics, order a mask and prepare the patterns.