Name of Project
Plastic Shopping Bag Flowers
Ages This Project is Suitable For
5 and up with assistance and supervision
Approximate Time Required to Complete This Project
10 minutes
Materials Needed
T-shirt style shopping bags, colored ones look nicer
Floral wire
Scissors
Needle Nose pliers to cut the wire
Drinking straw
Green Floral Tape (optional)
Instructions
1. Flatten out your t-shirt style shopping bag.
2. Line up all the creases; try to put it back in the form you would have found it at the grocery store prior to use.
3. Trim off both handles straight across.
4. Trim off the bottom strip, approximately 3/4 inch depending on the size. You want to remove the seam.
5. Spread the shopping bag out fully, you will now have a nice smooth cutting area.
6. Fold the bag so that you have at least 8 sections.
7. Cut the folds so you have 8 individual pieces.
8. Stack the 8 pieces together neatly.
9. Fan fold them in 1/2 to 3/4 inch folds.
10. Keeping the strip folded neatly snip the edges at an angel or round them off. This will dramatically change the look of the flower. You may want to experiment.
11. Wrap your wire around the middle of the strip.
12. Now spread each side out. It will look like a bow.
13. Separate and fluff each individual layer.
14. Bring the flower sides together by pinching the bottom
15. Wrap the wire around the pinched area tightly.
16. Fluff the flower out to your desired look.
17. You should have two pieces of wire hanging off the flower; one short and one long.
18. Take the long piece and insert it into a drinking straw for a stem.
19. Use the small piece to wrap around the outside of the straw to secure it.
20. Use green floral tap or other material to cover the straw.
Tips and Tricks
- Make sure the crease at the bottom of the bag is cut off
- Skip the straw and trim off the excess wire and use the flowers on your craft projects.
- Do not wrap the wire too tightly in the middle of the flower (step 15) or it will be difficult to bring the flower together.
- Double the amount of pieces from 8 - 16 and you can make a pom instead.
- Alternate colors in your strips to get multicolored flowers.
Sherri Osborn, Family Crafts Guide, says:
You can take a minute to visit BitsyPieces Blog, where you can also find a detailed PDF version of this project.
If you are looking for more plastic bag crafts, check out all of these projects. I also have a large collection of flower crafts you can browse through.