From bags to riches

HOMELESS charity Emmaus Mossley is learning to make do and mend after making reusable shopping bags out of donated garments.

Volunteers from the charity, which supports former homeless people, have been busy making the stylish accessories to combat the carrier bag charge in supermarkets.

The group, of Longlands Mill, Queen Street, Mossley, has made more than 50 bags from a mixture of fabrics including shirts, curtains, jeans, ties, and offcut textiles donated by fabric design studio Izabela Peters.

The stitchers have created the unique and quirky Bags from Rags range.

Group member Kirsty Roberts, from Greenfield, said she thoroughly enjoyed the project and made bags using her dad and son’s shirts and some of the donated fabrics.

“I wanted the shirts to be recognisable while changing their function, so on one of the bags I used the shirt sleeves as handles and on another the shirt pocket is a feature on the outside of the bag,” said Kirsty.

“It was a bit like piecing together a jigsaw. It also gave me the opportunity to use samples that I might not normally choose for myself.”

Izabela Peters, who donated offcut textiles, said: “We do our best to support charities whenever we can. We have had some lovely furniture from Emmaus in the past so when we saw they were running an upcycling group it seemed like a great way we could support their fantastic work.”

Emmaus Mossley supports 24 former homeless people by providing them with a home and work in a community setting.

The charity runs a social enterprise selling donated and upcycled furniture, household goods and vintage wares as well as fabric for customers to create their own upcycled designs at home.

The Emmaus Mossley upcycling volunteers meet each week on Fridays and spaces are available for the monthly group which meets on the second Saturday of every month.

Visit www.emmausmossley .org.uk or call 01457 838608.