♻️ Spinning HDPE Grocery Bags into Cord by Hand without Spinning Tools Plarn Yarn Upcycle by GemFOX
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 19 янв 2025
- Spinning a firm cord/twine out of accumulated non-biodegradable HDPE (High Density Poly Ethylene) grocery bags, by hand. Minimal tools, minimal setup, a project that is very portable. I like to spin at my desk or while riding in the car. I used approximately 52 grocery bags to complete the small purse in the thumbnail of this video.
Shop for anything on Amazon via my affiliate link amzn.to/2Fo4T0K
Check out some of my handmade items at poshmark.com/c...
Sign up for Poshmark and use code GEMFOX to receive $5 toward your first purchase.
2.5mm crochet hooks - amzn.to/2UTY7pG
Fiskars scissors (I use these a lot, they're sharp and long lasting)
amzn.to/2TqZB9K
if you're thinking about the daunting amount of time this will take to make, just remember how long it takes for one plastic bag to break down
Great comment!
Right?!! I've seen how plastic "breaks down" and only just recently did I connect with those tiny particles it breaks into and the realization that it's STILL PLASTIC, no matter how SMALL the pieces are...😱
@@anewday4denise And don't be fooled by the news that Waxworms eat it...they do exactly what you've just said...just make it smaller!
I'm lazy but I want to help the environment. I'm going to create a device to make twisting it easier.
actually just changed my mind about taking this on thank you!
My mother, God rest her soul, purchased a bag made of blue and white plarn circa 2000. She's dead. The bag lives on. Just like "new". It's NOT going to break down or wear out. The bags' second life has been WORKING for 25 years. Think *a quarter of a century*. Your craftwork will make wasted plastic bags become a beautiful daily bag that will be your reliable go-to heavy lifting grocery bag. I have washed mine in a big bucket. My mother told me how the people in the poor third world country she went to had gathered these bags from the garbage heap made by USA trash exports (for real) the ladies washed the pladtic bags in the river (same river they bathe in and do their laundry in) and then did all the things to get it together and bring it to market for sales to tourists. I like how the one shown on this video looks more like a natural stem even though we all know it's plastic.
I have just discovered that this works so brilliantly with one of those hair ‘twist ‘n’ braid’ things - it’s the same principle as it first twists the two ends of the Plarn clockwise then ‘braids’ them or plys them anti-clockwise. It’s saving me so much time.
😅,First thing that came to mind & I was about to mention the same thing. So,did u say u have tried it on this material already & can confirm it works well!? Also,thought about using the yarn/rope on a t.p.roll knitting loom or French finger whatever it's called(can find several yt vids on how to make & use them,in case any1 is interested-prob.not,lol), to make an even thicker cord or something!?
@@kashleys9749I use a fat hair roller and bobby pins for my French finger cords, but I think that method would produce a much thicker cord than desired.
*twist braids
And where did you get this twist n braid thing?
Brilliant thanks for sharing 👍 ❤
It never ceases to amaze me how clever some people are. Thanks for sharing this very smart recycling craft! Such good re-use!
You can sell the yarn . I bet a lot of people will buy it .
I agree! 👏🏽
IKR? I'm a creative person, but not THAT creative! 😁
@@donnapoolejackofalltrades7827 I was thinking the same thing.
And when we see what those people came up with it's like "So obvious. Why didn't I think of that?"
This video changed my life. I got a yarn spinner for my birthday and now I'm spinning all the plastic bags I have too
I'm so happy to hear that. I am thinking about getting another yarn spinner. Hope you're enjoying it, happy crafting!
What brand do you recommend?
I decided to try this before going out and getting a crochet hook and I’ve already turned a whole bag into twine with a paintbrush and a paper clip! I’m definitely getting a hook to make it easier but this is so doable, and I’m going to start looking up bag patterns as soon as I have a good amount of twine 😁
Oh that is great! Way to make do with whatcha got :) Happy crafting!
So resourceful!!! Count me impressed!!
Okay just saying this would be an amazing skill to have in the apocalypse
Omg I was thinking of using this skill in that setting, too.
My thoughts exactly
Especially if you keep a bag full of bags around the house lmao
Why doesn't this have millions of likes??! 😄😄
So right now ...😞
I love that even after two years you’re still replying to people to help them! Thank you so much for this tutorial!
Such a friggin awesome method for making plastic bag twine, so simple but so complete. Wish i would have seen this video years ago.
This is BRILLIANT!!! I’ve been saving bags for some time (my daughter thinks I’m ready for the looney bin 😂). I have done the other method but found that my bag came out too flimsy for heavy groceries. I will definitely be doing it this way from now on...the possibilities are endless!
Thank you so much for sharing your ingenious method for reusing plastic bags and saving our 🌎 ❤️
Why would your daughter think that?! Like not wanting to trow usable things is crazy?? Ffs please talk to her and get her started on saving the planet i got seriously worried bc of your comment. I got my mom saving her plastics and we are doing wonders.
my bros think im mad for wanting to spend my time on thiss
You know you can also donate some of your bags to your local food pantry - they always can use them where I live!!!!
this is brilliant. that will make for a nice sturdy yarn basket that will not snag on fibers like wicker or other similar materials tend to do. i especially like that the method for joining new strips does not leave any noticeable knot or bump. sheer genius!
I desperately wanted to say this was too much work until I remembered the plethora of plastic bags I have and then magically it became absolutely genius. I know what ill be doing on road trips.
I’m picturing how interesting these weaves could look when made with the assorted plastic bag colors; brown, white, black, blue, grey.. just like variegated yarns. Also, if you’ve got the patience you could weave this into mats to go underneath area rugs; even a very thin mat under a rug provides a surprising amount of cushion, floor protection and insulation. This video is great; just think of how much time this buys before these bags end up in the environment as waste.. and perhaps by then we’ll have applied widespread solutions and alternatives. ❤
Theres a learning curve, so to speak But once you get it! It's super easy! Takes awhile but I did it last night while watching TV. Ty!
EDIT!!! My husband loaned me his drill! A large crochet hook fits great! Super duper fast!!!!
Thanks for sharing this idea. I can think of many uses for such a twine around our house. Also, I loved your straight forward, non-chatty approach to your tutorial.
Exactly! They lose me when they spent half of their videos talking about doing something instead of just doing it. I'm with you on that!
I am so excited about running across your tutorial and I've been sharing it with all of my crafty friends! Thanks for sharing this with us! 🩷
This is great for bags with holes that can't be reused any more!
Oh wow Great news
I've done plarn the regular way. This is amazing. Here I go spending countless more hours on bags. 😆
This is a perfect tv show project
Truly amazing how a piece of trash can become so useful. Thanks so much for sharing.
I love how people are discovering new ways to recycle plastic bags,pretty good idea. Thanks
Wow wow wow You are genius. thanks for your idea.
I now want all the plastic bags. I think I'll make a laundry hamper with this technique. Thanks for sharing.
Great minds think alike, I was also thinking of making a laundry hamper :)
That would be very Big of you both. (Imagine just how many bags a hamper would remove from the garage heaps?!?)
Be sure to update us!!!! 🙏🏼
You're an incredible woman. Well done!
There was a guy from the Philippines that told me about doing this decades ago when these bags 1st became prolific. I did not understand the technique until now. Thx!
Fantastic job. I better start saving my bags.🤍🤍🤍🤍
Hello 👋
I want to thank you for your inventiveness. The time you have taken to show us your idea. I consider this a most valuable video. The bags are very attractive. Thank you again, for your honesty.
Well done video. Nice and clear and tight. No useless views of repeated
movements.
This is the best method I've seen so far
I love how this takes zero room and I already own a bunch of crochet hooks. perfect way to get into a new hobby without a spinning wheel or spindle. thanks so so much! I would have never thought of this on my own, you're super creative
Wait... What?! You made that from plastic bags that would have been thrown in the garbage? Brilliant!! I’m so going to try it. Thank you so much for the video!
Thank you! I can't wait to try this. Great use of ugly grocery bags-just the video I was looking for. No more spending money on twine and saves it from going to the landfill. GENIUS!
This just popped up in my feed and I'm glad it did. What an ingenious way to make plarn!!
Yup, this really does work. Yup, it really is as easy as it looks once you get the hang of it. While its not so quick, it doesn't take as long as I thought it would. It's one of those things that's perfect to do while watching tv- or youtube videos ;) I had a bit of trouble rolling it into balls- I solved this by winding it around empty toilet paper tubes with a notch cut in them. The finished cord is similar to raffia or viscose 'straw' embroidery floss, and it works up very similarly. Perfect for baskets and bags. I have crocheted with it and am really pleased with the results. I also think it would be great for twined weaving and want to try this.THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS VIDEO! :)
The skills and unbelievable creativity that some people have, just blow my mind.
I'm humbled by them.
Thank You to this lady, for sharing this fun craft.
God Bless
You have so much skill and patience ~ The colour of the plastic bag
really adds to the natural look of the cord 🌿
Exactly, that's what I too thought. The superb earthy colour I'd so gratifying to the eye.
Hello from USA 🙋❤❤❤❤
Wow what a great way to recycling plastic bags!
Love it I'm just starting out. I really didn't like the regular bags look when crochet. But now It looks great. I crochet a lot with yarn for over 36 years. My mom got me wanting to try bags. But now seeing you twisting looks great. Might be a lot of work But worth it in the long run.
Thank You.
Thanks for sharing this knowledge about using plastic bag in such a novel way
The final product looks really beautiful because of the brown color. It looks just like natural twine. I never get brown plastic bags where I live, only white with red letters and sometimes a very pale grey, so I don't think my plarn will end up as pretty as yours. But it's still definitely worth doing, to keep all that plastic out of the landfills and the rivers and oceans.
This is an amazing project because you're turning a few dozen flimsy one-use items into a sturdy high-quality item that could very well still be serving someone decades from now. Well done!
I love you for this video! About 10years ago when i was in school my classmate came to school with bag made of plastic bags and i asked for instructions but never got them. I think this was it and will try it as soon as i finish writing this comment. Thank you!
Thanks for the love! ♥ This is one of many ways to make/spin plarn, hope you do try it, I'd love to see. Feel free to tag me on IG @gemfox with what you achieve. ^_^
I have made many items including coats and dresses with plastic bags. However, to twine the plastic first...it’s a truly incredible result that looks fabulous and luxurious. Thanks for showing this wonderful technique. There is a northern woodlands Native American technique quite like this, using the inner bark of cedar trees. The resultant cord is beautiful and your bag cord looks so much like it.
Wow!! This is genius!! I'm going to try this..Thank you!❤
I love that they are publix bags. I work there and now i have more uses for for these darned bags. They get damaged and even though we recycle, its just the thought if not using them right away
I AM MESMERIZED!!!!!! 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩
Incredible, thank you very much! I used this tutorial to make embroidery thread from a smaller kind of sewing thread and it worked veeery well.
I would love to see how you do that!
Been wanting to have washable bags for vegetables from the garden or store. Perfect double solution.
I'm going to do this and use it as the inner cord for a coil basket. The binding cord of course will be plastic bag strips. Thanks!
Thank you for sharing and explaining so well. I have made handbags with recycled grocery bags, but I will definitely try this out. It gives that extra oomph to the design. Please keep them coming.
For YEARS I was looking for a good way to make plastic bags into yarn. Now I find this...and my state doesn't use regular plastic bags anymore, lol. I am not sure the thicker plastic bags we have to use would work for this, but I'm going to give it a try!
Hi 👋
Was looking for a video on how to make a basket so I can carry my crochet projects in, and was thinking of using twine. Seeing this made me think of all the plastic bags I have saved in my room. So for my next project I’m going to use the bags to make a basket
Very creative way to spin grocery bag plastic into cord. Thanks for sharing your method with the rest of us! :)
Originally it would been done with natural fibers. And now this ! It's a big way to help keep our natural resources alive to help nature restore it's self .
amazing! the result is very beautiful, which is almost a magician’s act when it comes to plastic bags. now if everyone would just stop getting them at the grocery store, we might be able to start making a dent in the piles that already exist o.o thank you kindly for this.
i love expanding my mind with innovations like this!
This is great. I can't stress it enough, THIS IS GREAT!
I'm positive I can make more than just another reusable grocery bag out of this method of reusing grocery bags. The yarn is small enough to be of use for a wide range of applications.
Saving the planet!
5 plus decades ago, in Girl Scouts, we used bread bags and made cortege the same way,, except, I would tie the whole thing to a drawer handle first,, and then we'd tie a weight at the other end,,,, and spin one long cord before doubling it... Same process, different set up,, but we used the cords for friendship bracelets and odds and ends like bedroll cords, camping gear, etc... Thanks for the video...
Absolutely ingenious. Thank you. I could easily imagine creating a group of people in my city to spin twine and craft. If everyone would reduce, reuse or revise waste plastic think of how healthy our lands and seas would be.
Lisa, I would be absolutely delighted to hear if you ever get a group together. Please keep me posted :) ♥ @gemfox
Thank you so much for this! I'm trying to figure out what to do with all my thicker plastic mailer packaging bags. I want to try and use your technique to make more of a super-bulky/jumbo gauge plarn/twine to crochet an attractive large storage basket.
Best recycling video I have seen for DIY projects. This is brilliant. Thank you for sharing
I just made the first cord and wow, it was hard for me, though I won't stop now and hope to master this technique! Thank you again!
Thank you. I have been trying to figure out how to make cording for gift bag handles. I think this is a great way to do just that.
Fantastic way to recycle. And the end result is beautiful. Thanks for sharing. Clever girl.
Very clever but work and time intensive. I guess you have to do the work to get such a professional result. The end result is very eye appealing and durable too. Great job!
Brilliant. This is something you can possibly knit with. Very clever.
What a great idea!!! It seems very time consuming, but a great way to use up all those plastic bags. Will definitely try it
I hope you do! You might enjoy the time spent doing it, then it won't feel time consuming, but rather time well spent ^__^
This is my favorite. Thank you for this tutorial!! Also once I got the hang of it, twisting these cords became so easy! I hope to make bags out of these soon.:-)
Love this! I watched this and thought I have to try it! And it was as easy as you made it look! Thanks for the tutorial! I feel like this is going to come in handy! 😊
Completely amazing! I cannot wait to crochet and make twine out of all of these bags I’ve been storing! What a perfect way to use them! ❤️
Thanks!
Thanks for your kindness. Happy crafting ^_^
Just mind blowing. Im so glad that yt suggestion me this vid. Thanks so much for sharing
You are amazing! All the other planes are so coarse. Wow!
This is genius! Thank you so much for posting💖
Cheers from Brazil
i wonder, how this would interact with a heat treatment? i have seen plastic bags being pressed with an iron to make them sturdy/molded together, this would be a great way to integrate harder areas into a basket or other weaved piece!
Check out the channel Brothers Make. What they do with heated plastic is just…beyond.
Happy crafting ^_^
Bery good 😍👍 !!!
I like the cord idea! Can't wait to add it to my crafts
About to embark on this cording project. Thank you for teaching.
your video is the first i found when thinking about doing a messenger bag for myself, and i was so intrigued i decided to use plarn instead of yarn and i love how it turned out! i cant get the bag color you use, i can only get mostly white but im hooked! i finished the messenger bag, and made a tote in all white with grey bottom and grey fabric web straps. I am dying to try the smaller bag you have in this video, in this color! Home Depot uses this color so will go visit and see if i can purchase enough bags to make one. Thanks for these videos.. inspiring creativity!
This is grand! I’m going to use it to sew my plarn purses together. Thank you.
Wait this is brilliant! I tried using plain a while ago but gave up because I kept having problems with the big "roving" strips breaking. My bag collection will now finally be made into, more bags probably (but actually reusable this time, haha).
Qué creatividad la felicito de verdad qué talento
Thank you!! I never thought of plying it by twisting it! I have two rather large balls of plarn I'm planning to add to, but now I'm using this method instead of just crocheting with two strands held together. Genius!
That resulting cord looks great. And when I have priced cords for bag knitting, ones that don’t stretch like yarn, the prices are exorbitant.
Excellent tutorial. Your hands are highly coordinated. I'm going to use this idea right away.
Beautiful work 👍
Amazing. I was just making the roving--didnt even think to spin and ply it. Now I want to redo all these bags I just processed! X3 awesome
I've already process 20 bags into the loops, and have spun about 9 of them. I've been cutting inch thick loops, so I get about 12 loops per bag, each loop producing about 8 inches of plied cord. I have 24 yrds so far. It's kinda zen :)
This is such a great technique! Thank you for sharing this tutorial.
Thank you for this marvelous idea! I have an enormous stockpile of these grocery bags I've been meaning to recycle. So glad I haven't yet. 😊
I'm off and running with this and plan on making a ladies' bowler "straw" hat out of the plarn pline (twine)! 😊 A friend of mine taught me how to make rope out of horse hair which is done the same way in twisting. Super easy but very time consuming yet so worth it.
I love the look of it and you are so creative but wow, I bet that is time consuming work. Not sure I'd have the patience for it but I wish I did. At any rate I certainly loved watching your video and seeing somebody make those grocery bags look nice as a finished product. Most of the ones I've seen are not very attractive in the end. Yours look very professional and would definitely sell. I'd buy one .
garbostyle1 if you disconnected you TV you'd have all the time in the world and all the brainwashing would stop too
Agreed. I think I'd have to train myself to do this while watching a movie or other sedentary family activities, but I'd have a hard time sitting still / focusing on it otherwise.
I imagine it'd be useful while waiting at the doctor's office, though. Lol.
MissJonesForever You give advice about not wasting time and yet here you are being brainwashed on the internet!! Lol too funny
@@kjsfl386 True, and Miss J F is judging Garbo just for being honest and for recognizing somebody else's work as worthy. How can she know that Garbo even watches tv or loses her time with it?
The roving plarn takes less time and works just as well for a yarn (although it probably isn't as strong). Try doing that instead!
Just as i was looking for a way to turn plarn into a lampshade! This will make a great lampshade in place of actual twine.
What a great idea. Would love to see how it turns out! @gemfox
I love this! Very addictive & great use for all my plastic bags. Thank you for the video!
I love this so much!!! Best video I found of making plarn yet! Thank you ❤️
You are brilliant love from India
Forgot to comment when i watched video a little bit ago... Loves this method. Been plying plarn this way this evening after watching video. Gonna crochet a basket for grandbaby things that stays in my van... Lol thought this would be stronger than regular plarn. ❤❤❤
Thank you so much for the video
So smart. Since you showed how to crochet with the bag material, I've been saving bags. Wish I'd have saved all those bags, I recycled but, Oh, well. No time like the present.
This is so clever! Would love to try this!! Love the results
Stunning work keep up with the great work, love the video
Thank you for sharing this recycling video God bless you🙏