Make Durable Reusable Grocery Bags from Unused Sweatshirts

Making a reusable grocery bag from an old sweatshirt is a great craft to recycle old sweatshirts. Reusable grocery bags from recycled sweatshirts are more durable than their T-shirt counterparts and can be assembled in a half hour or less. In this article, I will detail how to recycle old sweatshirts into reusable grocery bags.

For this reusable grocery bags craft, you will need:

Old sweatshirts

Scissors

Sewing kit

The reusable grocery bags craft uses up the main body of the old sweatshirt but not the sleeves. The sweatshirt sleeves can be recycled into numerous crafts. You can make a Santa hat or elf hat the regular winter hat craft, or use the sleeves to make the leg warmers craft. For instructions on these three crafts, please refer to the hypertext links to my articles on the crafts in the above text.

Craft Preparations:

Gather the old sweatshirts you are to recycle with this craft into reusable grocery bags. If the sweatshirt has a design, the design can be incorporated into the reusable grocery bags. The old sweatshirts should be free of unsightly stains as the outside of the sweatshirts will be the outside of the reusable grocery bags. There are two types of sweatshirt reusable grocery bags you can make. There's the simple bag where you just cut the sweatshirt, and the more durable bag in which you hem the edges over for added strength. Hemming the reusable grocery bags is optional as sweatshirt cloth does not fray or stretch much.

Craft step #1, Cutting out the reusable grocery bags: For the basic reusable grocery bags, cut the sleeves off of the sweatshirt about a quarter inch away from the sleeve seam, leaving the seam on the sweatshirt for strength. If the sweatshirt has those raglan seams that connect to the collar, the sweatshirt should be used to make the more durable bag. For the durable bag, leave an inch of the sleeve on the sweatshirt for the hem. Cut a rounded square shape out of the neck of the sweatshirt, leaving a two-inch wide strip of each shoulder for the handles. The cut-out neck can recycle as a baby bib. For the durable bag, leave three inches of shoulder cloth.

Craft step #2, Sewing the bag together:Turn inside out and sew the bottom part of the sweatshirt together. This sewing needs to be very durable in order to withstand the weight of heavier groceries. For the more durable reusable grocery bags, hem over the inch of sleeve underneath the handle. For the raglan seam sweatshirts, sew the cut part of the seam to hold it together as these seams tend to rip apart easily. Then hem the cut neckline under itself, sewing together any seams if you encounter them. These hems will provide added strength to the handles of the reusable grocery bags.

You now have a durable reusable grocery bag. These reusable grocery bags will last for years. You can machine-wash your recycled sweatshirt bag whenever necessary, and should the sewing come apart, your sewing kit is all you need to keep your reusable grocery bag going. Provided your sewing on the bottom of the bag is strong, you can carry heavy groceries in these reusable grocery bags. By recycling sweatshirts into environmentally friendly bags, you save money on reusable grocery bags while still being able to help the environment by not having to use plastic shopping bags.