Moscow Food Co-op Producer Profile

by Barb Coyner, from the February 2002 newsletter

The world would be a better place if everyone carried an Old Bag. At least that's what my sewing partner Dawn Ownbey and I thought as we sold our Old Bags at an on-farm produce market in Marysville, Washington last year. Several Co-op members thought they'd be a good fit in Moscow, and thanks to personal care buyer Carrie Corson, our bags are now available at the Co-op.

Sizes and colors of our bags run the gamut, and we have several themes including the Starving Student (old work or pearl-buttoned cowboy shirts converted to bags, and a real favorite among some of our Portland customers) and Old Moo Moo (cows and Hawaiian muumuu combinations) models. We also make pretty garden and nature-themed bags, and dressier velvet and satin evening bags. All are crazy-quilted, triple-strength and made of nearly 100 percent recycled fabrics (we do have to buy webbing when we can't find enough of the recycled version).

The idea evolved after we had been using lots of recycled fabrics for crazy quilts the past couple of years. On a trip to Portland to visit my daughter, I noticed that many people carried tote bags for their shopping, much as they do in Europe. Then on the way home from Oregon, I was sidetracked by an impromptu yard sale that a guy had set up just outside the city. It seemed his job was taking about three to six tons of clothing PER WEEK to the dump, after a vintage clothing distributor had sifted through the goods. He hated to throw out good clothes so he conducted roadside yard sales when he had time. Of course, he was loaded with great fabrics and he shared many with us.

The amount of fabric waste available to us meant, in reality, an endless supply of raw materials from which to make tote bags. What a great extra-income idea for our depressed rural economy. Dawn and I figured we could show others the technique and quality control aspects, allowing each person to be an independent contractor, thus simplifying bookkeeping. The creativity and range of fabrics and textures keeps this from becoming just another sweatshop proposition.

These days, many avid quilters share fabric scraps with us, plus we recycle the unusable clothes from the newly formed Potlatch Clothing Bank (open Tuesdays from noon to 6 pm - everyone welcome!). There is no end to the supply and potential, and we've now sold bags in three states.

The only dilemma? Not enough hours in the day to indulge our passion for quilting, fabrics and colors! In time, we expect people to come to us with favorite shirts and other clothes, asking us to make bags out of their almost worn-out sentimental favorites.

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