Fusing plastic bags

As a few people commented on my four matching bags post, I thought I would show you how to fuse the plastic to make the panel which is sewn on the front. First of all I cut six pieces of red plastic from an M & S carrier bag, this is going to be used for the letters. Sandwich them between two sheets of baking paper, you can use greaseproof paper, it doesn't matter if they are a bit creased. Then iron them with a medium to hot iron. I use a piece of hardboard to protect the table. It is best to be in a well ventilated room while you do this, open the window and door. Use circular motions with the iron, turn it over and iron both sides. Check to see that all layers have stuck together, and peel the paper off while it is still hot.

It will go a bit wrinkly but that doesn't matter. Then I traced the letters I wanted from an embroidery magazine, onto the baking paper, and transferred them onto the plastic with a pencil and cut them out.

Next cut eight pieces of plain plastic, I used a charity bag, slightly bigger than the panel size I wanted. Arrange your bits of decoration and cover the whole thing with a piece of clear plastic.

Don't forget the paper top and bottom before you iron, you will end up with a piece like this, after you have trimmed the edges.
Save all your plastic bags, they come in usefull for cutting the pieces for your design, you can really go to town and personalise it. The more colours you have the better. You can also make up several of these panels and sew them together, it gives you a very strong piece which you can make into a bag.