Shamelss plug - If you like the bag please vote for it after April 1st in this Project Yarnway thread. Thanks!

Materials:
About 540 pop tabs
2 soda can bottoms
1 chain
material for lining
1 zipper
Total weight: 305g

Tools:
Hammer
Wire cutters
Pliers
Heavy duty scissors
Hydrogen peroxide
Darning needle
Awl

I’ve been collecting these tabs for years and realized that if I didn’t step up and try to use them for this Project Yarnway challenge, I’d probably never use them and I should just throw them out. Getting this bag done nearly killed me. March was a crazy busy month and I wasn’t even able to get started until the month was half over. As of last night I was seriously afriad I’d pulled an Emilio and would be sending my model naked down the runway. But - I made it and here I am sliding in just under the wire. My model’s still metaphorically naked, but she’s got a damn cool bag.

I had intended to use dental floss instead of the crochet thread, but (probably not shockingly), the metal tabs acted exactly like the metal tabs on floss packaging and cut the floss. That also ruled out sewing thread. Thin wire was too brittle to use and thick wire would have taken me a year to work with and killed my hands. So I just broke down and used thread. I hope it passes the 20% rule.

This is my first time working with poptabs though I’ve wanted to do it for a long time. After my first swatch I realized I’d have to change my idea for the bag drastically. The “fabric” was much more flexible than I expected. (It’s really quite cool, I can see why people use it for clothes) The first idea, a backpack with triangle motifs can be seen out of focus in the sketch photo. I wanted the look of the bag to be as tidy as possible so I experimented with a few ways to attach the tabs. The final bag uses a few different techniques.

Crocheting with the tabs was challenging, but what took even more time was the prepping. The tabs had to be cleaned, flattened and in some cases I had to rip extra aluminum where the tab was pulled. The extra prep was worth it though to have the tabs lie flat.

All in all I really like the bag and would love to make another. Just not anytime soon!