Yep, you read that right! You can make a book cover from a plastic bag! Sometimes some shops still give out real plastic bags, and some of those are really pretty! That’s what happened to me – I was given this cute pink Paris inspired plastic bag when someone gave me a gift, and I could’t bear to just recycle it, or worse, use it for the trash! It was far too beautiful!
So, of course I squirrelled it away for “future use” and there it remained until I was struck with inspiration – I learned you can fuse plastic bags together with an iron. Some work better than others – as some of them shrink and curl and deform, but others shrink flat. Thankfully this bag had two sides, so I was able to practice, and guess what? It worked!
All you need to use a plastic bag to make your book cover is:
- the plastic bag (obviously)
- another piece of clear plastic just to give it some more strength
- a couple old towels and greaseproof paper or something else the plastic can’t stick to
- a substrate to use for your book cover (it can be a paper bag, cardstock, cloth, etc)
- sewing machine, or hand sewing
- any other decorations or embellishments you want to add
And making it is pretty easy. All you need to do is set up your ironing station. Cover your surface with some old towels or scrap fabric, as the plastic will melt and might stick to your surface. Then, place down your layers of plastic – I did clear then the bag. Then place the greaseproof/deli paper on top and begin ironing on LOW, slowly pressing down and working your way around the bag. It will shrink, but if you keep even pressure it should stay fairly flat. When the two pieces are fused together, leave them to cool a couple minutes before handling.
Then you get to add this to your substrate, or book cover material. This is where things can get tricky, and where I highly recommend doing some sewing. Not all glue will work to stick the plastic bag on your cover. I tried PVA to no avail, but then found my Beacon 3-in-1 worked alright. But to be safe, and because the cover is the part of your book that gets handled the most, I recommend stitching around the edges to secure in place.
After that – embellish away until you decorate it how you want!
I’ve made a full detailed tutorial on my YouTube channel, which you will find just below.
Happy crafting!
If you want to find more tutorials for upcycling and making mixed media art, you can chek out more tutorials here!