Crochet Plastic Bag Pattern: Plarn Soap Dish
By Rachel Choi – 21 Comments| Crocheting with plastic bags is just like crocheting with any other type of yarn. The only difference is the texture of the material. The soap dish is a very small crochet project to start you off in exploring the world of plarn (plastic yarn). You can use the “How to Make Plarn Tutorial†if you don’t know how to yet! It is fun and a great way to recycle your old plastic grocery bags. |  |
| Skill Level: |  |
Finished Size: 3†(7.5 cm) wide, 4 ¼†(11 cm) long, 1 ¼†(3 cm) tall
Note that size can be adjusted by following the instructions within the pattern
Materials:
Approximately 6 plastic grocery bags, cut into a ball of plarn
Crochet Hook G (4.00 mm)
Gauge: not very important
Since the thickness of plarn varies from person to person, use a crochet hook that you are comfortable with. Crochet as tight or loose as you want your soap dish to be.
Crochet Pattern: Soap Dish
Bottom
Start by chaining 12 or as wide as you want your soap dish
Row 1: ch 1, sc in second ch from hook and in each ch across: 12 sc
Row 2: ch 1, turn, sc in each sc across: 12 sc
Repeat row 2 fourteen times or until your work is as long as you want your soap dish.
Sides
Round 1: sc around bottom piece
Repeat round 1 four times or until sides are as tall as you desire, then finish off. If you find that your sides are a bit floppy, slip stitch around the last round to make it tighter or you may choose to put decreases in the last round.
If you need help with crocheting this soap dish, let me know and I’ll be glad to help!
This would be awesome to make for my shampoo bar! I have a case for it but the bar always gets stuck in it, so this is awesome! Thanks for sharing your pattern 🙂
I love that idea. I’ll have to try it.
Love the plarn. Did the pattern and I just want to keep making plarn! Thanks for the pattern. Unlike cotton soap holders, this one won’t get moldy. Thanks!
Katie
How do you weave in the ends? Finished it, but I am not sure how…
To weave in the ends, it just like how you would do it if you made it out of regular yarn. Sometimes it helps to use a small crochet hook than the one you used to make it so that it is easier it get the strand of plarn weaved in.
Many years ago, my Mom made “plarn” to crochet marked bags. She had patience to cut all those strips and put them together. Her cuts were so straight, I wobble all over the place. I still do not have her patience with needlework
I know what you mean Sandy! Sometimes I don’t have the patience to cut plarn and I don’t cut very straight either, lol. If it helps you can fold the bag in half a few times so that you don’t have to cut all the way across it. Doing that helps me a lot!
hi Rachel this is awesome! its next on my list of projects. thanks for the pattern 🙂
[…] Some things are just better when they are made with plastic, such as a crocheted soap dish. […]
Tried this pattern today; love it! Here is a hint: I didn’t think the shape of my soapdish was rectangular enough so I placed a bar of soap in the dish to help me guage how I needed to re-shape the dish. I used a hair dryer to heat up the plastic enough for it to soften and allow me to reshape the dish into a better rectangle. Once it cooled it retained its shape very nicely.
Love this… Not sure what you mean by single around bottom piece.. I’m not sure how to make the sides by this wording. Please help
Hi Ann, to single crochet around the bottom piece you will work around all 4 sides of it. You’ll singe crochet along one side, then turn and single crochet along the next side, until you reach the first single crochet you made. You’re crochet around in a circular fashion around the bottom piece. Let me know if you need more explanation.
I love making things from plarn! I hated cutting all of the bags with a scissors, so now
I use a paper cutter. The type with the blade on the handle that you pull down to cut.
Just fold the bags over a few times and cut away! Much faster and you get straight cuts 🙂
The soap dish is awesome. I’ve made them for the bathrooms and kitchen. Great idea!
What a fine idea, I’ve been trying to figure out how to weave plastics bags because I always forget my crochet and knitted bags when I shop and then I get the guilts. I found “plarn” yesterday and made a little fish. Today I struck gold and found the soap dish. I recently remodeled my bathroom and hit budget so I don’t have soap dishes or towel racks, I had to buy pump soap, I like home made bar soap. I have a soap dish now and I see more soap dishes and plarn towel racks in the near future.
Thank You!
I made this!!! It’s my very first plarn project!!! SO EASY!! Thanks for posting this and for also posting the “How to” in regards to MAKING the plarn!!! Mine isn’t perfect, but it PERFECTLY WORKED!
Hi, I haven’t made this but I do use plarn for my dishclothes for the first couple of rounds if I’m doing it in the round. I have used a fabric cutting wheel with the cutting pad to cut my plarn strips it works really well. I have made rectangels and connected them with a single crochet to a similar sized rectangle of cotton yarn to make a scrubber dishcloth for the kitchen it works well but next time I won’t make it as wide.
thanks for the pattern.
Has anyone tried a throw rug or a doormat yet? Or is it too likely to curl and trip someone?
Hi Gail, I do have a crochet rug pattern: Crochet Pattern: Rug with Ridges
It’s done in regular yarn in the photo, but you can definitely use plarn like in this soap dish pattern. I have seen folks make rugs and doormats with plarn.
This was so simple and easy! I was so excited to make plarn! Thanks for sharing.
Could you post the instructions for making the soap dish smaller for the soap bars that are about 1/2 the size of one of the regular big bars of soap?
This pattern is one that I am interested in trying, but my bars of soap are smaller.
Thank you.
Alicia
Hi Alicia, the pattern has instructions for adjusting the soap dish so that you can make it as wide and long as you want it to be. At the beginning you’re going to “Start by chaining 12 or as wide as you want your soap dish”, so you’ll just make the chain as long as you want your soap dish to be wide. At the end you’ll “Repeat row 2 fourteen times or until your work is as long as you want your soap dish.” You can ignore the 12 sc stitch count at the end of rows since your stitch count will probably be different. Let me know if you need more help with it.