Bed Mats Made From Plastic Grocery Bags

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Bed mats made from plastic grocery bags.

The mats are made of plarn or plastic yarn crafted out of bags that are sliced into pieces and looped into a long chain. 500 700 plastic shopping bags for a person sized mat but can vary depending on what you re using the mat for 10mm or larger crochet hook. E ach 6 foot by 2 foot mat is made from 600 to 700 recycled plastic grocery bags and takes about 50 hours to make. Each mat is made using recycled plastic shopping bags.

It takes about 500 bags to make a two and a half feet by six foot mat. Crafters from the nanaimo harbour city seniors are turning plastic grocery bags into sleeping mats for the homeless. Cut off the plastic bag handles and the bottom of the bag. Opting to use green canvas bags for your grocery shopping is an effective option but many people still have excess plastic bags lying about the place.

It s time to make a difference with these roll up mats for the homeless. How to make plarn. How to make plarn. 8 mm or any large crochet hook.

I found 500 600 per mat with a regular size grocery bag less if bigger bags are used but i d count on a minimum of 500. Come on let s make some mats how to crochet a plastic sleeping mat step 1. Fold in half lengthwise then fold in half again lengthwise. Clean plastic supermarket bags 500 700 per mat thicker bags or thinner bags can be used with modifications to size of strips.

One easy project appropriate for ages six to adult is weaving a doormat from left over bags. Materials to make a sleep mat from plastic bags. Start with about 10 plastic bags at a time. Instead of becoming landfill plastic bags can be used for fun craft projects.

Scissors or rotary cutter with used blades. Parents can teach about recycling in the house and how plastic bags take years to decompose. Rather than throwing them out you can reuse them by crocheting them into multi purpose mats known as plarn plastic yarn. Maria mendez young and other american legion auxiliary members in california are part of an initiative to create and provide these sleeping mats to homeless veterans in their community.

Straighten out each bag by pulling at the end and the handles so that it becomes as nice smooth and flat as the plastic bag in the picture. How to make plarn plastic bag yarn the first time i learned about plarn yarn created by cutting and tying together strips of plastic grocery bags was in 2005 when british designer erika knight was a guest on a tv show i used to host called knitty gritty she showed it made using a rainbow variety of bags an array of which i have yet to come across here in the states and knitted into a.