Using Feed Bags

Reusing trash and recyclables is great for the environment, and frugal as well, but it can be difficult to know where to begin. In this series of articles, I will be examining the possibilities of reuse available for a number a different items, including crafts and other options.

The feed that we buy for our chickens comes in bags made out of a sturdy woven plastic material that's designed not to break or rip open. It's very strong and doesn't tear easily, making it a perfect material for reusing. Other items come in these bags as well, such as livestock, dog and cat food and wild bird seed, so they are fairly easy to come by and are generally printed with cute country style graphics.

To reuse these bags, I remove the stitching along the bottom seam, either by pulling it out, or by cutting the seam off entirely. Then I cut along one side of the bag, usually near the seam, to open it out into one large piece of material. I hose this off or wipe it down with a damp cloth to remove the dust and debris, and then allow it to dry in the sunshine, to freshen it and assure that it's clean.

I've used these pieces of sturdy plastic material for many things. It can be sewn without worry that it will break or tear along the seams, and I've used it to make tote bags and gardening aprons. I've also sewn the large pieces end to end to make a sunshade/rain blocking tarp for my chicken coop. One use we've recently put these bags to is the finishing of a shed. We needed something to finish and protect the insulation in the ceiling of a shed we're going to be using as a chicken coop, so we stapled these very sturdy bags to the ceiling and then put up cross pieces of 2X4 to cover the seams and provide support for the insulation.

This plastic material is slightly more difficult to sew than regular fabric, but there are some techniques that will help it to go just as smoothly. It's important to use a denim needle in your machine to make sure that it can stand up to the heavy plastic and punch through it without putting stress on your sewing machine. I find that it's better not to pin the pieces of this material together because the pins will leave holes that won't close on their own. Also, this material is so firm and stiff, it's likely to bend your sewing pins if you try to use them with it! Instead of pinning the material, I like to use binder clips to hold the layers in place as I sew. They are very strong and don't leave any marks or holes on the project.

I find that regular bias tape from the notions section works very well to finish the raw edges. This is better than a regular hem because the plastic material is difficult to press and crease, and folding it back on its self adds a lot of bulk to the finished edge. Attaching the bias tape with a wide and shallow zig zag stitch works best for me.

I have had a good time coming up with new uses for these leftover bags, and you can make some very useful and cute projects with them.