Plastic bags Upcycled into Mats

I enjoy weaving.  In addition to basketry, I have spent some of my time for the past year or so weaving plastic bags into sleep mats as part of a volunteer community service project.

I join a group of retirees once a week to prepare donated plastic shopping bags for weaving.  We first fold the bags, cut them into strips, join them and roll the lengths into balls.   It takes approximately 700 standard shopping bags to make one mat. 



Once the supplies are prepared we make the mats on our own time.  I weave on  a portable, handmade wooden peg loom  that sits on my dining room table.  As the strips are woven to form the mat, it fills up more and more of the table top.  Stripes of color form different patterns.  I enjoy working with different color patterns as I weave the mats.





I typically weave and watch a movie or TV.  It usually takes me about 2 movies to complete a mat. This year I have woven 7 mats in January and February.

 The finished mats are 4 ' x 6".   They are given to police, fire departments and community service organizations to distribute to individuals  known to have a need and often sleep outdoors.