Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Becoming a Green Bagger



Those of you who have been following our journey this year know that we've been slowly transforming from (a) wasteful to (b) green dwellers. It's astonishing just how many changes can easily be made. It's been fun, actually.


Last weekend we went to the local rummage sale and I found this huge pile of very nice fabric for only .75. I mean to say this stuff is thick, bright, and very shiny. Anyone know what it is? Anyway, the guy must have seen me salivating over it because he said he'd take .50 for the whole pile. WOW, a .25 discount! Now all we had to do is decide what to do with it.

A couple weeks back, I published a post on "The Story of Stuff." Someone commented at the bottom about a website by the Green Bag Lady, whose real-life name is Teresa (I believe). She's has been accepting fabric donations and has been making bags for women all over the world who return their promise that they will use it in the place of plastic at the grocery story (or wherever they are usually using plastic or paper bags). When she sends someone a new bag, they send her a picture and she posts their picture and location on her website. She has a wonderful pattern HERE and a great demonstration video HERE.

I'm not much of a seamstress, but this morning I watched the video and looked at the pattern and thought, We can do THIS! I'll put the series of pictures below. The picture of the bag at the top is the final product. I still have a ton of fabric left so I think we'll easily have enough for all of our groceries once I finish. It's such cheerful, bright fabric and looks like it will hold up well for just transporting groceries from the store each week. I'm so excited!

Sewing the outsides.



Sewing up the corners.



Creating the handles.



Attaching the handles.



Modeling the final product.



8 ♥ thoughtful comments ♥:

Brittany said...

Good for you Shaye! I have been meaning to do the same thing, so I better add it to my running list.

Anonymous said...

Love seeing you use Nana's sewing machine and on top of Mammy's... :-)

Green Bag Lady Teresa said...

I got your link from one of my faithful toters. I'm so glad you used the pattern and watched the video and turned 50 cents worth of fabric into something so worth while!

I would love for you to send me a photo of you and all your completed bags (especially with groceries, etc in them) for my blog.

Best--Green Bag Lady (Teresa)

www.greenbaglady.org
teresa@vanhatten.com

PS, your kids are adorable!

2Shaye ♪♫ said...

Look, it's Teresa! A real, live, celebrity posting. YAY! :D

I would be happy to send you pictures. That will also help me stay focused and finish this project before the end of the month. Chasing a 4 y/o, 2 y/o and 4 month old sometimes finds me forgetting past projects. This one is too important.

When I first found your site, I SO wanted a bag from you. Because, well, because I wanted to be part of something big--something really big. It's kinda like going to a concert and bringing back a t-shirt. But when I saw that you needed to stop on June 15th, I figured I can be just as much a part of this by doing the legwork, myself.

This, my friends, is the cool thing about blogging. People are touching people. Together we make the world go 'round. :)

Anonymous said...

Are comments still disappearing on this post?

Anonymous said...

Try, try again...

♥ Boomer ♥ said...

I just looked at greenbaglady blog and reviewing yours. Your dad is even getting into bagging. I think a bag would make an excellent birhday present! TeeHee

Mama Nut said...

I love this idea. I am SO going to do this. Then I can be known as the 'weird lady' in my area until every catches on and then I'll be known as the trend setter, right? :)

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