Clothing Repair Clinic
Sunday Feb. 7th. from 1:00-6:00 p.m. at The Village Congregational Church on Main St. in Cummington.

Bring your pants that need hemming, clothes missing buttons..complex repairs you could use some help with and mend and socialize!

Sign up at The Old Creamery in Cummington or e mail me if you can teach a portion of the clinic or if you are bringing a repair.

RSVP's are helpful since this is the first time we are doing this.
We hope to get a one to one ratio of teacher to student.

You don't have to be an expert to teach.
Sewing on a button or hemming a pair of pants are skills you may take for granted so please volunteer to teach even if it's just for an hour.

If you want to replace a zipper please e mail Barbara to arrange this thestormcrows@yahoo.com

If you have sewing notions you are ready to donate to The Bagshare Project please bring them along.

The Village Congregational church has generously allowed us to use a portion of it for a sewing center. This will be the second sewing center started by The Bagshare Project in Western Massachusetts. The first one is in The Eastworks building in Easthampton.

The Creamery Chocolate tasting starts at 6:30 so you can do a dual event!

Please don't hesitate to call me if you can help publicize the event or contribute in any way. 413 634-5591

Repairing our clothing is a big part of reducing fabric waste.

You can print out the flyer on the www.hilltownsustainability.org site Scroll down the calendar of events and click on the clothing repair clinic.

Thanks,
Leni Fried
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Bag Facts:

• The raw material for plastic bags is oil, or natural gas
• Plastic bags generally take 400-1,000 years to decompose
• Sea turtles often mistake plastic bag litter in the oceans for jellyfish
• A sturdy reusable bag replaces 400 disposable bags over the course of its lifetime

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Expanding into the Berkshires

River Valley Farm is the most recent venture to embrace the Bagshare Project

Berkshire Organics in Dalton joined the BagShare in March 2009 for their home delivery service of organic local vegetables. They also will be using the bags for their storefront.

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Donate your old unloved neckties to the BagShare!
We use them as handles for our bags. All colors and styles are welcome. Drop off you ties at any BagShare location or contact Leni at leni@titaniumarts.com
Please help spread the word, download the poster below (click "More" to print or save)Tie Drive

Publish at Scribd or explore others: How-To Guides & DIY recycle bagshare

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New- The Wilbraham & Monson Academy in Hampden County is sewing for the campus bookstore!
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UPDATES FROM LENI--May 2009

We are almost up to 10,000 bags sewn and donated!

Serios market has launched their Bagshare. It is thriving. Thanks to all involved

Bread Euphoria and The Northampton Survival Center want to join the BagShare project. And my sister has started the project at The Sebastopol Farmers Market in California and it is taking off! They sewed 200 bags from donated T shirts.

Kid Stuff in Florence has expressed interest in starting the bagShare there. We will need to have sewn at least 200 bags to get them going. I would like to use the opportunity to get younger children and their parents involved. If anyone has ideas on how to do this please let me know.

Also the July issue of Orion magazine will have an article I wrote (with a little help from my friends) about The Bagshare Project!!

We are in need of a space to borrow (until rented) for a sewing center in Northampton or the Dalton Pittsfield area. Like the donated space in the Eastworks building in Easthampton, this space could house machines and fabric and be a center to have ongoing sewing circles. If you know anyone who has extra space please assure them this a community project and their contribution helps our planet.
contact Leni at leni@titaniumarts.com
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Bag Sew Calendar

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Easthampton, MA
EASTWORKS, 116 Pleasant Street, Easthampton, MA, Room 145 (next the Registry of Motor Vehicles)

All are welcome, beginner or experienced sewer, adult or child, male or female! We have machines and fabric, or bring your own if you'd like to, or drop off donations. No sign up necessary. Stop in just to say hello, bring friends. Help fill out tags or cut fabric if you don't like to sew, or learn to sew if you'd like to. Learn the BagShare's new five minute "jiffy bag" pattern!

EVERY FIRST AND THIRD WEDNESDAY of the month, 6-9 p.m. (Jan 6 & 20, Feb3 & Feb 17, March 3 & 17) AND
EVERY FIRST AND THIRD SUNDAY of the month, 1-4 p.m. ( Jan 3 & 17, Feb7 & 21, March 7 & 21)
Eastworks Bag Sew contact list
First Wednesdays, Chris Cavallari, email: cavallari56@hotmail.com
Third Wednesdays, Molly Hale, email: hellomolly@comcast.net
Sundays, Barbara Crane, email: Barbara.crane@charter.net
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Leeds, MA

This is an informal sewing circle for Leeds residents and their friends. We are aiming to use the least amount of energy possible by creating a circle within walking distance of participants’ homes. If you live in Leeds and are interested in sewing with your neighbors, please call Alisa at 413-586-9123 for more information.
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Pittsfield, MA
Sews at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church dates to be announced

All ages and levels of experience are welcome: Sew or learn to sew. Bring a sewing machine if you have one, and come take this first step with us to eradicating plastic and paper bags from our beautiful Berkshires.

Questions? Call Sarah (413) 442-2040 or email ethansarah@verizon.net
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How to make BagShare bags and where to get the tags

All BagShare bags should have BagShare TAGS on them to help them stay in circulation. Be sure and fill out the tag and sew it on to the OUTSIDE OF THE BAG.
Our tags are available for you to use in your community BagShare project.

Tags measure 2.5" x 5". There are 18 tags per square. They are printed in assorted colors on a variety of scrap fabrics. If you'd like to purchase tags they are 15 cents each. One square of 18 is $2.70 (plus shipping). Just e mail Leni Fried at leni@titaniumarts.co or call (413) 634-5591


We make a very fast and easy bag we call the 'Jiffy' bag. It takes no more than 6 minutes to make. contact Leni to learn how to make this. (A video will be added soon.)

Some pointers for starting The BagShare Project in your town:

Sewing bags for customers to borrow when they forget their own does not work for larger stores.

We recommend that larger stores eliminate plastic bags, re-use their boxes and offer reusable bags for sale at their counters. We also recommend that they eliminate paper bags as well. When no bags are offered customers quickly learn to bring their own bag. If the step of removing all bags is too radical we recommend that stores impose a tax on all disposable bags. In Ireland there is a 33 cent 'plastax' on plastic bags. Paper bags should also be taxed.

Humans are the only creatures on earth that produce trash.

The Bagshare Project is committed to the principle of Zero Waste.

We are committed to collecting scrap fabric and having it sewn into bags or usable items. Stores in our area have found local people to sew bags for their community stores from scrap fabric. Stores purchase them for $2/per bag and do not mark them up. This creates a job, prevents unnecessary fabric waste and also is a smaller carbon footprint than purchasing $1- bags from far away.

The BagShare Project builds community and loyalty to local stores when participants sew bags for your local venue. Sewing circles are multi-generational and inclusive with people of different skill levels teaching each other in schools, public buildings and community centers.

A larger goal of 'The BagShare project' is to teach the skill of sewing in order increase awareness of where our clothing is made and how far it travels.

Sewing Machines: These are donated by individuals

Sewing Machine repair: Put out a call to individuals who can repair sewing machines.
Teach free classes on fixing and oiling your sewing machine.

The goal of eliminating disposable bags one store at a time can also be used as an organizing effort to create plastic bag free and disposable bag free towns. Check out this website from Modbury, England the first Plastic Bag free town.

We are using the following films to speed this effort along.

Message in the waves (9 minutes)

The other film: The Battle of the Bags is a history of the plastic bags and the global effort to stem the environmental devastation caused by this ubiquitous invention. It is a Canadian documentary and is $156.


Generic Bag Share Poster