Amy's Plastic Bag Experiments
I like the idea of using recycled materials as fabric, but plastic bags themselves aren't particularly appealing in appearance or texture. I wanted to see if I could use plastic bags in similar ways as I might normally use woven textiles.
My first attempt was trying to create an "ombre" textile, with a lighter color fading into a darker one. I did this by fusing together a translucent green bag in four layers, then ironing single layers of blue plastic on top of this. The result:
I noticed that when I ironed the same piece many times the plastic shrunk into an interesting, scaly-looking texture:
Next I tried pleating a plastic bag onto another fused bag. This required some very careful ironing, and turned out a little messy. The pleats didn't really turn out the way they would with woven fabric, but maybe they would turn out better with a second attempt. I also tried sewing over the pleats to make a more interesting texture:
I also tried making a patch of "faux-fur"/plastic grass. I ironed strips of plastic onto a backing of fused bags, then made little cuts in the strips. The result looks more like a pinata than grass or faux-fur:
Based on these "experiments" I think plastic bags can be used to make interesting-looking textiles, but I don't know if they can be made into textiles that have nice textures. The next step would be to try making plastic bags into textiles that have more useful textures and properties.