Psychomomquilter

I do love to quilt, and I am getting back into due to a 3 year hiatus. I do have a question and don't really know how to put it on here. I am interested in the plastic mat ministry, making mats for the homeless, this is a more hands-on type thing and not sewing, more cutting & crocheting. my thing is ,is there a way to sew these bags somehow? I guess it would have to be a special machine to do this.

Tartan

Are you crocheting the plastic mats out of milk bags that go on the ground? I don’t know how you could do plastic quilts unless you used PUL. PUL is a plastic sewable fabric that can be used to do waterproof diaper pant covers or bib backs but it is expensive.

pennycandy

The bags would tear along the stitching. The flat grocery bags would also become full of holes after a short time. Turning the grocery bags into plarn makes a sturdy material once it is crocheted. I made several plarn bags and planters. The planters were outside and lasted three years. The bags that I use inside have lasted much longer.

osewme

Here's a PDF that gives instructions on those mats and some videos to show how to make them:

http://storage.cloversites.com/faith...structions.pdf

http://www.grandforksherald.com/life...h-mat-ministry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EThR5UjkzM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyLFk8O2hnA

Psychomomquilter

I didn't think about them tearing, and its bags you get from different stores what you carry items out of the store.
I will check those links as wel I have watched the ones on youtube thats what got me interested. and a great way to recycle too. the plants?gosh why didn't I think of that! I got a bunch of plants as well. l can start dloing them too. well ladies thankyou so much for directing me the right way. y'all have a great day

betty32084

I belong to a church group that help our homeless here in St Augustine , (4 S -sweaters-socks ,soup and salvation) the plarn(yarn made out of plastic grocery bags) is very durable.When we give a homeless person a mat, they are very glad to get one.It takes between 500-600 bags to make one mat.We only have one person that crochets them for us, but a lot of the congregations donate their bags.

Lady Diana

Plants?????

Lady Diana

Plants???? Don't follow....is this mentioned on one of the videos? and how to they play into the mats?

Jshep

I also belong to a church group where we make mats from plastic bags. Ours are donated to the homeless, but also kindergarten children in the poorer school districts. They each get a mat and at the end of the school year they get to keep it.

BettyM

I think she meant planters.