Saturday, September 19, 2015

I Rescue the Bags and Set Them on a New Path

A little happy thing that I do is take an ugly, reusable shopping bag and sew some scraps of fabric over its logos to make it look better.


And sometimes to fix holes.
Only a few minutes of time on my part, a helpful reduction in my scrap bag, and a much nicer bag to carry around.

I guess I don't like logos and graphics on my bags for the same reason I don't put bumper stickers on my car:  I like to fly under the radar.  I'm pretty talkative about my pet issues, sure, but I don't announce them on my bags, tees, or car.




Then, one of the beach girls admired this bag when we traveled in August, and I realized that I could rescue some of the poor sad tote bags at the creative reuse store.  There they were, all neglected and ugly, advertising things that no one wanted to claim.

So I rescued them! I covered up their logos and graphics with great pleasure.  I had fun picking colors and buttons and perle cotton.

There are four bags in the shop and I have a missionary feeling about them:  the need to convert ugly bags into nice ones, to give them a new sense of purpose as they get into daily carrying, to bring them into crafty heaven as their reward.


Go look!  There are four of them in the shop!


12 comments:

Tammy said...

That's something I never would have thought to do. The funny thing is, I normally don't like logos but I actually don't mind on my shopping bags. One thing I've noticed when I use my bags is that the cashiers at Meijer pull out all the other bags before they use the Meijer shopping bags. I think they want to see what the look like!

Unknown said...

Yes I love that you did this ! I never liked advertising for company's on my cloths or bags for that matter lol

Leisha said...

I love your sewing Margo and such a good creative reuse of bags .

beth s said...

Your bags have me inspired!

Unknown said...

Great idea!!!

Becky said...

I've been known to do this! I often purchase bags at thrift stores with other people's monograms on it - it might be a brand new LL Bean tote, but because it has someone else's monogram on it, it's marked for $1 or less. The only people who know it's someone else's monogram are people who know me and they (I think, I hope), just chalk it up to my quirks. And cheapness. I did however, recently cover up a monogram with a patch - the bag, a fabulously huge Land's End beach tote, was from a friend who just went through a very painful divorce. It had her married initials on it and while I decided the bag was incredibly useful, I thought it best to cover her monogram. She was absolutely thrilled about the whole thing, so I think it was win-win!

jenny_o said...

I like this so much better than starting from scratch to make a bag! The re-user in me coming to the fore :)

And this is unrelated, but in following the link to your bag in the Dec. 19, 2012 post, I noticed the family photographs ... is the photo on the left (the little girl only) YOU? because your sweet Phoebe looks very like that little one ...!

Margo said...

Jenny_o, yes, that is me in that photo! And wow, I think you are right. We thought Phoebe looked more like my sister.

jenny_o said...

So fun to look at old photos and see resemblances - I've been doing that with our pictures and our grandson :)

BLD in MT said...

I cover up logos in this way quite often. I don't like to be a walking billboard, even for things I do like.

Sarah Barry said...

These are awesome! I want all of them. Such a cool idea.

e said...

What a great idea! I'm like you in the logo department: I'd rather not provide free advertising. I love how you covered these up!

Also, in general, I have to say that I love your sewing. I love the creative way that you use color and pattern. I love that sometimes you don't even cut the scrap, just sew something around it. Wow. You have freed me from a lot of the creativity destroying need for 'perfection'. Thank you so much for that!

((I think I have commented before, but not often or recently. Sorry to be a lurker, but do know that I love your blog!))