Green DIY Crafts: Turn a Shopping Bag into a Shipping Envelope

Admit it – you sometimes forget your reusable bag and come home with paper or plastic ones. But, that’s okay – if you’ve got a few disposable bags sitting in your recycling bin, you can give them one more good use before they’re ready for a new life by turning them into shipping envelopes. Team Eco Etsy has a great tutorial that shows us how, and they come out looking very professional – perfect for sending off those last-minute gifts.

From Team Eco Etsy:

So I start with a brown paper bag from Whole Foods (who have forsaken plastic altogether) and a light-weight plastic bag from Stop & Shop (they still offer plastic).

The plastic bag is used simply as a moisture barrier and is not always needed, but in variable weather I like to play it safe. So the first thing to do is neatly wrap your product in the plastic bag – no need for tape – it’ll stay neatly wrapped in your finished envelope (and by not taping it, your customer can re-use the plastic bag yet again).

Cut the paper bag on its seam and lay it flat, then place your product on top and start folding. Make the envelope big enough for a little wiggle room plus about a half inch on each side for stitching. Cut away the excess paper (you know – the bits that don’t look like an envelope) and fold the left and right sides closed. Run a line of machine stitching down each side. If you want to get creative, use a nice embroidery stitch – I used a straight stitch for this example.

Get the rest of the instructions over at Team Eco Etsy.

If you don’t have a sewing machine or don’t know how to sew, you can still use this idea – just glue the seams down. This ‘Amazing Eco Glue’ has less than 1% VOCs, no hazardous air pollutants, no animal derivatives, is water resistant and comes in recycled packaging.

Link [Team Eco Etsy]

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