Recycled Plastic Lunch Sacks with SToK Coffee

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As a crafter and content creator working from home requires serious focus and several "boosts" throughout the day -- most of this time this meant taking quick trips out to a coffee shop for a mediocre iced latte and a fresh magazine! I'd tried making iced coffee at home and trying cold brews from the grocery store but none of them were cutting it. About a month ago Ian brought home a new iced coffee to try and I haven't looked back! After switching to SToK™ I've saved cash, time and consumer waste ( all those plastic cups)--and that means more money to do the things I really love! 

We do our best to remember our reusable shopping bags when getting our weekly essentials...but sometimes we slip and end up with 5,000 plastic shopping bags. They're great to have around the house in small quantities for cleaning up messes--but I like to challenge myself on how they can be repurposed into crafting materials. I've used plastic bags to fill floor poufs and seen other crafters create plastic "plarn" for crocheted baskets--but my FAVORITE repurposing technique has been creating plastic textiles for making water resistant totes and bags. See how I crafted these dyed plastic lunch sacks from recycled plastic bags below!

Things You'll Need 

20-30 white plastic bags 

Iron 

Parchment Paper 

Scissors 

Sewing machine & Serger

Coordinating thread

Ruler or Square
Pen

Rit DyeMore (for dyeing plastic)

Plastic Container for dyeing 

Here's How 

1. Select several clean, white plastic shopping bags and cut off the bottom seam and handles to create a large rectangle. Layer 4-5 pieces of plastic in between two pieces of parchment paper and use an iron on medium heat to fuse the pieces together. The plastic will shrink significantly with the application of heat--if the iron is too hot you'll have lots of ripples and texture in your completed textile. 

2. Cut the following pieces to create a medium sized lunch sack: 
Trace the pieces onto the plastic with a square edge and pen before cutting out pieces with sharp scissors.

3. Place each piece in a dye bath to create fun colors! Gradually add water to increase the depth and lighten the color for an ombre effect. Follow the manufacturer's instructions for dyeing plastic--I expedited the process by transferring dye to the stovetop to encourage more of a color transfer. The color didn't turn out as BOLD as I had liked...but I still like watercolor look instead of a plain white bag. Alternatively you could decorate your plastic material with fabric paint and stamps!

4. After you've rinsed and dried all the pieces, serge the raw edges with a coordinating thread to reinforce the material. 

6. Stitch all of the pieces together 1/4" away from the edge, trim away stray threads and you're done!  If you want to keep your sack closed you can quickly stitch a small tab of velcro to the edge of the opening.

SToK™ is pure coffee with no weird ingredients or flavors-- I fill up my favorite travel mug with ice, a little half and half, and a LOT of SToK™ before hitting up the flea market, the beach or just working on home improvement projects around the house! 

Haven't seen this goodness in stores? Find it in the coffee/tea cooler at Walmart! My favorite SToK™ is the red bottle with just a touch of sweet!

xo Lindsey Crafter