Plastic Bag Wallet

I've been tweeted to post some pictures of this project, so I figured if I was going to post, I'd explain what I did as well.

1. I start out with my left over plastic shopping bags from my latest trip to the store:

2. Then I cut the handles off:

3. and then the bottom:

4. now I have a big circle:

5. I cut down the middle to create one long plastic sheet:

6. I then fold it in half twice to get 4 layers, then its upstares to the ironing board:

7. I set the iron on acrylic (I found anything hotter melts the plastic through):

8. It doesn't take more then a quick touch to start melting away:

(test a small peice first to see how long it takes)

9. As the plastic melts it fuses the layers together and melts them into one:

10. Once the plastic melts leave it to cool for a minute and it will be very easy to cut!

11. Once you have a desired thickness and size, cut out the pieces you will need for your project:
(In my case, 2 of the same size rectangles for the wallet and one extra for the flap)

12. You may have to try a few time to get the desired effect, as holes occur if you aren't careful!

13. Depending on the number of layers, and the heat setting, you can achieve different thicknesses and sizes as shown here: (hint: they started out the same size!)

15. If done lightly, the fused sheet should still be very flexable but thick and sturdy and hard to tear through:

16. After cutting my two rectangles, I sew along 3 sides with a streat stitch on my sewing machine. I then attach a plastic button with embrodery thread:

17. For the button hole, I simply cut out the hole, the plastic is thick enough that it won't tear through:

19. and add the strap with an X stitch in the back:

20. The best part is that the bag has instructions to recycle on it, I place that part prominently on the back:

I have lots of ideas of things that I could make this way! If you come up with any, I'd love to hear them, And I'll share mine when I do.

Happy Crafting,

Jamie