I was watching the MAKE podcast and saw how they made a messenger bag and reusable shopping bags out of used shopping bags. They fused several of them together with an iron and created a Tyvek-like material that they then able to sew together.

We’ve switched to reusable grocery bags but still have a bundle of plastic bags we save to reuse for this and that.

We’ve switched to reusable grocery bags but still have a bundle of plastic bags we save to reuse for this and that. I’m going to try and use some of the bags to make a new wallet. I really like my current wallet but It’s starting to fall apart. I don’t really carry cash so it’s more of a card holder than a billfold.

I pulled some Target bags out of the wad because they have a fun pattern of the Target logo repeated over a whole side. I thought this could look kind of cool and give my new wallet a bit of style. First I smoothed them all out and trimmed off the very top where the handles are to square it up. The bottom of the bags are heat fused already but since the sides are pleated I needed to take off the bottom inch, creating a tube of bag. To make things somewhat cleaner looking I lined up all the sheets so the logos were mostly aligned from one sheet to the next.

Next I had to pull two long strips of wax paper and put one at the bottom of my stack and the other on the top with the waxy side facing inward, toward the plastic. This is to protect the iron and the ironing board. A small binder clip at one corner helped keep things together and stopped any slipping during ironing.

Watch the MAKE podcast episode to get the details on how to set your iron. One tip I’ll pass along is to make sure you always have the waxy side away from the iron. After a few minutes of ironing I had a large sheet of plastic fabric.

Next I’ll be working up a template to cut out the pieces for my wallet. One thing I haven’t figured out yet is how I’m going to make an ID window in my bag wallet. I’m thinking of reclaiming some plastic screen and using it in place of a clear vynil window.

More to come.