A new mission project from Midwest Mission is being woven across Northern Illinois. Church groups are turning clean plastic shopping bags into sleeping mats. 

The mats are distributed to organizations around the world that serve people who lack homes, who have been displaced by disaster, or who need temporary sleeping arrangements—anyone who needs a clean, dry barrier between them and the ground.  

The bags (the kind widely used by grocery stores and other retailers) are easily cut and knotted into “plarn”—plastic yarn—and woven into blankets on special looms. Midwest Mission makes these available at cost ($100), and churches across the conference have been obtaining them and busily weaving mats. 

“Plarn sleeping mats are an exciting project for many reasons,” says Teresa Whitehouse, Midwest Mission’s project manager. “They not only give a second life to used plastic bags but, in a small way, they also help improve the lives of the people who receive the mats. It is a way for us to give comfort to someone we may never meet. 

“Though individual volunteers have been crocheting beautiful plarn mats for years, the loom allows people to gather together in groups to weave sleeping mats and prepare the plarn.” 

Lightweight and flexible, the mats provide a thermal barrier against dampness, grass, gravel, sand, and cold floors. They also repel bugs (which don’t like plastic). It takes about 700 bags to make one mat. A completed mat is just under three by six feet. 

This summer at the North Central Jurisdictional Mission Academy, Kris Aves worked on a loom at the Midwest Mission display booth. Kris, co-coordinator of Northern Illinois Conference’s United Methodist Volunteers in Mission, purchased a loom, thinking there were ways it could be used in the conference. 

After a church-wide trip to Midwest Mission, members of First United Methodist Church in Dixon picked up a loom on Aug. 30. They have weekly loom workdays that up to nine people attend; many others flatten, cut, and knot the plastic bags at home. After the church’s first mat was completed, they realized how many people were interested in the ministry. On Oct. 23, they picked up two more looms. They now have a dedicated workroom with multiple stations for working on mats. The local PADS (Public Action to Deliver Shelter) organization is excited to receive them.  

During a September Sunday morning service, Rev. Jim Bell, pastor at First United Methodist Church in Belvidere, distributed $100 bills to members of the congregation. This was a “kingdom assignment:” each person was to spend the money on something that would further the kingdom of God in some way. One recipient, Dan Holmes, was scrolling through Facebook when he saw  Midwest Mission’s post about the sleeping-mat project. The suggested donation for a loom is $100, the post said. He immediately knew where to invest his kingdom funds. He called Midwest Mission right away and soon picked up the loom. He’s now looking for the best place to set it up.  

Also in September, the Tampico United Methodist Church’s mission group made its yearly visit to Midwest Mission. There they learned how to make sleeping mats. Two members purchased a loom and asked their church folks and friends to save plastic bags. They have made two mats so far and hope to recruit more people from the church and community involved in the project. They plan to take the mats they make with them when they head back to Midwest Mission in March to pick up the supplies needed to work on the rice-meal project.  

During an NIC Vital Congregations workshop in October, Joyce McCullough of First United Methodist Church in Oak Park heard about the Belvidere church’s work on the sleeping mats. This inspired her to contact Midwest Mission to learn more. “Our church was getting ready to revitalize our crafting group and it seemed that this loom might be an interesting fit,” she says. “It also might engage youth and other adults who would not necessarily be interested in knitting or crocheting.”  

 “Midwest Mission would love to take credit for this wonderful idea, but we can’t,”  Whitehouse says. “In the late ’60s, plastic bread wrappers were braided together to make beautiful rugs. Some are still around today.  We have only recycled an old idea. I pray our sleeping mats will be as durable as those of our grandparents.”  

Nancy Wadsworth of First United Methodist in Dixon says the mat-weaving is “a great multi-generational project.  

“Our youth have helped with weaving and we have someone in her 90s who flattens bags [in preparation for turning them into plarn]. People drop in during the week to check on the project or leave bags.”  

As well as healthier and more peaceful rest to people without a bed, the project is a fantastic way to reuse plastic bags and prevent them from becoming litter. Those who’d like to help don’t need a loom to participate; they can contribute bags or even turn them into plarn, ready for the loom.  

Most churches mentioned in this article accept donations of bags as they are, cut into strips, or knotted into plarn. Midwest Mission has posted an easy-to-follow video demonstration of how to make plarn and weave it on the loom. And those who enjoy wood work can download  plans for building a loom here.  

Learn more about how to make the mats and obtain a loom here.