How to Weave Your Own Purse

I got the idea for weaving a bag from the commonly made "magazine bags." However, in order to weave bags out of magazine pages, lamination or a lot of tape must be used. Since my purpose was to reduce waste I decided to stray away from magazine pages and instead use shopping bags which are already laminated and so are durable and waterproof without using excess materials. 

You will need:

-shopping bag

-paper cutter

-scissors

-sewing machine

-hot glue gun (not necessary, but helpful)

-old shower curtain (in the spirit of recycling, but any fabric that will work as a liner will do)

Take your shopping bag and cut out its handles, making sure not to damage them (they will be used later.)

Using a paper cutter, cut the bag into equally sized strips. 

Then weave these strips together, making a square or rectangle. You can choose whatever size suits you.

Next cut a piece of shower curtain or any type of fabric that corresponds to the shape of your weaving and sew it onto the weaving.

To make the edges nicer, fold over two sides of the weaving and sew them down.

Next take the middle of the weaving and fold it inwards. 

Bring the two sides up around the fold and either sew or hot glue gun those sides together. I tried to sew initially but the thickness of my particular shopping bag made it impossible for the needle to go through.

Then punch holes in the bag where you would like to place the handles. You can put two on each side, one on each end, use single handles or braid them for a thicker handle. 

And now you have a lovely purse which keeps shopping bags from becoming waste and you from buying another purse, which benefits both the environment and your wallet.