Like any recycle minded crafter I like to look for the possibilities in the random packaging and pieces of plastic that often make their way to the trash. I'm not keen on the idea of waste and landfill and over time I have collected those little plastic tabs off of bread products.
Surely there is a craft for them?!? Here is a decorative use for them that I incorporated in to a little clutch bag project.
This project was featured in the relaunch issue of 'GreenCraft' magazine by Stampington Magazines. I was so excited to hear that they were reviving this magazine and extra excited to have my clutch purse project featured in the Gallery pages :)
GreenCraft magazine July 2020 |
Materials you will need
A stack of the little plastic bread tabs you've collected
Yarn or embroidery thread. I used some needlepoint thread from a thrift store but use what you have.
(etsy have some great stores selling interesting yarns and threads)
Grosgrain ribbon (10mm / 3/8" wide works best)
Strong glue. I like Aleene's tacky glue but any strong craft glue works
A plain rectangular clutch purse (a small toiletry bag or pencil case works well too)
Needle and thread/ scissors
Sort your tags in to color and shape. I used the most common shape.
Glue pairs of tags together ensuring that any printing is on the back of the finished tab.
Use your choice of yarn or thread to wrap around the joint and knot at the back of the tab. Create several of these mixing up the colors if you choose. I used two colors for this project.
Once you have a bunch of these you can begin to weave them on to the grosgrain ribbon. Grosgrain ribbon works really well because the weaved texture snags neatly on to the hooks of the bread tags.
Overlap the tabs as you continue weaving in and out with your ribbon
Once you have created several lengths of woven tabs in the correct length to match your purse
Attach your lengths of tabs to the front face of your clutch purse using glue.
You can reinforce the fixing at each end of the lengths using a small stitch or two to secure the ribbon to the purse.
My original project used hot pink grosgrain ribbon but I've used a higher contrast blue for this tutorial