Bags & Nets ... and Hats!
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My daughter demanded: "Bags are boring. Make a hat!" Here it is. (April 2014)
June 2015
Shoppers & Co.
How to make your very own designer bag: Collect bags and nets from grocery produce and fruits: red one from oranges and clementines, orange ones from potatoes, green from zucchini, white/purple from garlic, and so on. Cut the advertisment and metal off. If the bags are dusty, wash them to remove the dirt; the result is worth the extra effort. Cut the bags and nets into stripes – beginners cut thicker ones. Then braid the stripes (use 3 or 4 as you wish) into long ropes.
Featured on "30 Tage 30 Dinge"
(2012)
It can be recommended to braid only the same colour at a time for better effect in the product – but this is entirely up to you. Once you have a long rope you can treat it as any regular wool you would work with: you can knit it or weave it – I have sown it together at the beginning always adding one round on top of the other.
Get some handles on or other accessoires you need for your product. Now you have created something very special out of trash! My biggest problem in all this is that I am running out of material all the time. I have been doing this since 2010 and still find it very satisfying. Have fun!
Knit the Thread
In the beginning I sewed the braids together as is known from Mexican basketry. This works very well accomodating all the different thicknesses the braids come in due to the varying starting material. Some nets allow the formation of small strings/braids which can be worked with thick knitting needles. In particular orange and lemon nets lend themselves to this methods. However, in the end I did not like knitting so much although it was fast. I seemed to need much more material and I had less control of the final form of the object. The rectangular basket pictured on the right was brought into shape by the addition of two strong and flexible plastic sheets from an outdated filofax. 
Braided net strings knit with needles size 10.
The length of the needle determines the size of the final mat and therefore the width of the finished bag shown below. It was modeled using side insets made from green zucchini nets as well as some scarce purple and white garlic nets. (Dec 2012/Jan 2013)
Shoulder bag (Jan/Feb 2013)
Weaving
Jan. 2015
Clothes and Fabric
By the way: The ventilation comes in handy in shoe bags as well.
Again inspired by my artist-daughter I thought about clothing made from my favored junk. Here is the skirt and tie to be worn with the hat shown above. Not the dress code for work, but there is carneval...
(Sept. 2014)
Hard to see, but in this handbag the plastic "fabric" was used to stabilize the real fabric lining. In that way the bag keeps its shape. The shoulder strap was made putting one of those sturdy plastic bands, which they use to close packages for shipping (the specialist will recognize the also recycled fastener), inside the textile ribbon. Nov. 2014
For this shopper I used potato one-way bags at the base and for the little pocket in the middle as well as left-over orange fabric. (Sept. 2014)
Keep the Sack Intact
Even more straightforward: When the sack is still intact sturdy shopping bags are quickly sewn. The one on the right has a bottom made from a orange juice container to give the bag some volume. The shopping net below simply was fitted with a handle. (Oct. 2014)
The third uses a different kind of potato sack and has handles made from the same material. (Nov. 2014)
More on the theme (Dec. 2014): I really began to like keeping the sacks intact, because they can hold
some weight and weigh nothing themselves. Workflow:
1 - folding a sack as double layer for more stability, sewing the other side
2 - add a rim made from one of those sturdy plastic bands they use in closing packages for shipping
3 - add handles
4 -add some nice ribbon for the looks
From here to there (Jan 2015):
1 - folding a sack as double layer for more stability, sewing the other side
2 - add a rim made from one of those sturdy plastic bands they use in closing packages for shipping
3 - add handles
4 -add some nice ribbon for the looks
From here to there (Jan 2015):
For Kids
Quick idea to entertain kids and teach them repurposing. I used the fruit bags which are made from sort of plastic "sheets" so you can handle them like fabric. Fold them around a plastic flower pot (typical one-way trash from the last purchase of garden flowers), stitch it together or chrochet, add some decoration: Finished is a neat little present for grandma. May 2015A joghurt container and a potato net plus some decoration. Aug. 2015
Work examples 2015
Basket worked around a plastic salad bowl. Rim and handle were strengthend by sewing in an old power cord.
Sept. 2015
April 2015
Feb. 2015
Work examples 2014
Potato net, lining and a base - makes a nice storage basket/bag (Nov. 2014)
A regular bag with lining (Aug. 2014)
This time the braids were sewn onto a one-way plastic net-bag providing the grid. The bag is not as stury as the others, but a fabric lining provides stability as well as a neat optical touch. (August 2014)
Easter basket with Sorbian Easter eggs (April 2014)
Shoulder bag made of potato sacks with inside lining (March 2014)
Work examples 2013
Working round from a small base leads to an interesting boot shape at the rim of the bag (April 2013).
Aug. 2013
Clutch
Sept. 2013
Gift wrap holder with chicken wire. Nov. 2013
Work Examples 2010-2012
For a clutch thin thread should be used. Fabric was added for decoration.
Multi-purpose baskets
Shopping bags are always a good idea with this material. It is sturdy and colourful.
For a try I left the plastic signs on the nets. I cannot recommend it, because weaving becomes difficult and the result is not very practical either. Call it art then.
This bag was first - pretty crude still.
