My spouse likes to compare me to someone who grew up in the Depression. I think he once purposefully put some aluminum foil from a takeout order in the recycling bin before I could get my hands on it to rinse and save for reuse.
During the Depression and subsequently in World War II, people in the United Stated had to save and reuse everything, even making clothes from flour sacks. This ethic was fading by the time I was born in the 1970s. Though I could often witness it when I went to visit relatives in India.
However, I am not really like someone who grew up in the Depression. I am not poor, first of all. I can buy more aluminum foil if I choose. Also, we as humans have become far more adept at extracting natural resources than we were in the 1930s and the 1940s. Many of us are also more disconnected to what it takes to actually produce something.
I do not want to glorify poverty and I like things like central heating, but there is also great peril in being able to continually buy things. In the 25 years between 1980 and 2005, the extraction of resources on a global scale increased by 50 percent. We are using the fruits of the earth faster than they can be replenished.
We need to change our ethic around these resources and repurposing is one way to do that Here is an example of one thing that I took that was not usable and made it into something that was. I did the reverse of a flour sack dress and took an article of clothing and made it into something to hold food.
I purchased this blouse new several years ago. I bought it at a department store and was expecting decent quality. Almost immediately the embroidery began to unravel. If I knew what I know now, I would have added a little fabric glue and continued using the blouse. However, I didn't know how to do that and I let it sit in a bin of clothing for years.
During pandemic decluttering, I pulled it out. By that time, the underarms had become discolored and the elastic had totally worn out. The elastic could have been replaced - the discoloration not so much. I had some reusable produce bags that had started to rip so it seemed logical to turn this light weight fabric into drawstring produce bags. I dyed one bag with black tea as an experiment.
There are a number of tutorials on making drawstring bags on the internet -- here is one that involves hand sewing - so am not going to provide step-by-step instructions on making a drawstring bag, but it is a simple way to transform an old piece of clothing or fabric. And now I have made something usable again.
What will you repurpose?
