Melted plastic bags styled with lego bowties

Make your t-shirt a changing canvas for your Trashion Plastic Artwork! 10 minute fun with cutting plastic bags and melting them to t-shirts. This technique is not permanent. The plastic will stay on a few uses and should be removed before washing the garment (it will come off in the washing machine). Check out my tutorial on Fusing plastic bags to t-shirts and knitwear. This will look great with my lego-bowties! I´m planning to make a few of these bowties for sale in my Etsy shop.

Sustainable fruit and wegetable grosery bags

More and more cities (San Francisco, LA, Modbury in Devon England,...) have banned plastic bags from super markets and shopping malls. Still waiting for your hometown to follow suit? Do your part by implementing your own personal bag ban: Stock up on reusable shopping bags (hit up Envirosax to purchase a well-designed set of five, or go the DIY route and sew your own). Avoid leaving stores with new bags at all costs, and find a way to re-use the ones that have made their way into your home. One method of keeping them out of the landfill: Crocheting another plastic — but reuseable — bag yourself.

Taking your own tote shopper with you gives you something to carry your shopping home, but what to do with those small vegetable and fruit bags? You have to pack your veggies somewhere to weigh them! A few Etsy sellers have an exellent alternative - tulle fruitbags. The see-through material means the cashier can read the produce number/barcode, and the bags can easily be washed and reused. A few dollars gets you a variety of sizes and colors from fabrik.etsy.com and ficklefaerie.etsy.com.

Attention Trashion bag ladies!

(bag made by Post Scriptum)

Are you an upcycler? As in, are you into making stuff from things that others cast away? Now is your chance to show the world your trashy treasures. The Compai ladies — Justina and Faythe Blakeney (authors of 99 Ways To Cut, Sew, Trim And Tie Your T-Shirt Into Something Special) — are working on a new book about bags made from recycled materials.

Submit a hi-res image of an original bag (or bags) that you have made from old tires, nuts and bolts, candy wrappers, seatbelts, old clothes, plastic bags, vinyl records, etc. to justina@venuszine.com. Bags can be any shape, size or style so long as they are made from recycled materials. Along with the images, send us your name, occupation, age, URL (if you have one), location and a short paragraph explaining what the bag is made of and your design philosophy.

You could be chosen to be a featured designer in Compai’s upcoming publication (to be published by Potter Craft, a division of Random House), plus win two free copies of the upcoming title. The winner also will be featured on Venuszine.com.

Deadline: August 20, 2008, at 5 p.m.
Submit to: justina@venuszine.com with "Bag Book" in the subject line.


(Lace glove bag made by Flymissy)


(sweater bag by Brenda's bag)

More fab bags from recycled leather

I adore worn down secondhand leather and bags made from recycled or repurposed leather clothes. You just can´t beat vintage leather. My all time favorite bags designer in the sustainable fashion scene is Ashley Watson but recently I have also found other great designers and bag makers!


BAGGAGE recycled leather bags from Canada.


Recycled leather bags available at Amoosi.


Matières à réflexion bags by French designers Laetitia Azpiroz and Cyrille Railliet. Also check out their blog. Found via TheCoveted fashion blog.


Red leather bag sewn from a thrifted leather jacket. Made by a fellow Finn Jaana-Mari.


Recycled leather goods from thecraftydevils.etsy.com.



Charlott Vasberg inspires me with her bag designs. The Twiste bag from 2005 still looks new and fresh (zippers yey!).

Recycled belt design by Inghua Ting

TING is a small company that produces luxury products to sustainable, ethical principles. Inghua Ting established the company in 2000. Following her graduation from the Royal College of Art, Inghua worked in Japan developing innovative, futuristic fabrics. However, working at the forefront of fabric technology led her to considering sustainable issues, and the challenge of designing and producing a desirable, luxury product from recycled materials. Inspired by old leather belts, reclaimed seat belts, old braces, vintage leather saddles, salvaged fabrics and tie silks.

Car seatbelt cushion and vintage belt floormat, via Available at Branch Home


Ting produces three main collections: a range of luxury leather bags, belts and wallets; home and interior accessories and Orange Label, a range of bags made from seat belts. Belts, Bags, Wallets are crafted from vegetable tanned leathers and vintage leather belts. They are lined with bright vintage fabrics, tie silks and corduroys and have belt buckle fastenings.



Ting shoulderbag and coinpouch available from EcoBTQ.


Ting belt camera bag available from Ecocentric.

Patchwork denim

Denim is by far my favorite material to work with. It is easy to find from thrift stores and secondhand shops + it usually does not cost much. It is also pretty easy to sew and theredore a very good material to start with if you are a novice customizer.

I´m currently working on two bags that I have created from worn out denim pieces. Patchwork technique allows you to use even the smallest pieces from your craft fabric collections so it is very ecological. I will post the images (and tutorial) of the bags when they are finished but in the meantime here are some of my favorite denim patchwork projects by other crafty trashionistas and my inspiration book.

The technique is simple. Arrange the denim pieces on to the paper patterns and sew together. There really are no rules! The denim pieces can be of different colors, they can have raw edges and as much freehand over stitching that you can possibly think of. Cut of extra fabric, but remember to leave allowences. Sew together according to the models instructions. The seams make the pieces a bit stiff, but this technique works well on bags, jackets and home textiles.

Patchwork denim jacket by E.Patzig




This fab bag is made by (room#15)from southern califolnia



This lovely denim teddy was made by suzysu sparkles



Denim covered armchair by Mattia Bonetti

Garbagebag by Anne Rantanen

Few years ago I was absolutely sure that the DIY scene in Finland has complitely died. There were no websites/tv programmes/magazines available in Finnish that would have been about trashion or anything related to recycle-crafts.

Then I met Anne Rantanen through a mutual friend... And my hope was restored. Each one of her bags is unique. She makes them from old furnishing fabric, clothes, accessories, buckles, buttons etc. Visit her website or Etsy shop at garbagebag.etsy.com.







And if you like her bags, you should also visit mandinka.etsy.com.





Or bags From Jack&Marjorie.

Ashley Watson recycled leather bags

Vancouver based designer Ashley Watson handcrafts her one-of-a-kind leather products using exclusively recycled material. She began designing handbags with recycled leather in early 2005, inspired by the original features of jackets purchased from charity thrift stores. Her bags have a very vintage stylish and contemporary look. In my eyes these bags (and her other accessories) look a lot better than some "it-bags" from major fashion brands... The bags used to have a previous lifes and that always fascinates me about recycled materials. In case one of my friends is reading this, please tell my husband to get me one of her bags for xmass :)

Ashley Watson Recycled Leather bags and wallets are now sold online and in stores across North America, and will soon be available in select stores in Europe. Visit her website for more info.