From dirt bag to tote bag.



So, in my inimitable scroungy way, I rescued a used sandbag from the sidewalk the other morning on my way to school (this kind of sandbag is everywhere, since all buildings are concrete and renovation is going on all over the city) and spent a few hours this weekend making it into a tote bag.

It's not as cool as my rice totes were, mainly because the print is more plain (the 20lb bags of Thai rice we were able to buy in NY and Michigan, made of the same cheap woven plastic, had a much better pattern, something like this). But pretty cool nonetheless, and a good warm-up -- it really makes me want to jump into making something with the billboards I've got hanging around.

On a related note, has anyone read this NYTimes article, about disposable fashion contributing to climate change? It seems to me that sustainable fashion is a more complex issue than simply (as the Times posits) the washability of cotton vs. polyester. But it sure does make me re-assess the impact of fun, H&M-like, single-season clothing. Plus it helps me justify my freakish obsession with the Salvation Army and used, vintage stuff.