I love green! It's my favorite color. It's the color I use on all advertising for SoSews T-shirt Quilts. But for bigger reasons than because I like it. The green reminds me of my business goals:Repurposing & Recycling
~ Repurposing - taking something old and turning it into something new.
That's what SoSews T-shirt Quilts does for you. We help you save your memorable t-shirts by turning them into a unique keepsake quilt that you will be able to keep for a lifetime.
The main reason people have for getting a t-shirt quilt made is to save their memories. Doing something 'green' is only a cool side benefit.
The really intentional 'green' thing SoSews T-shirt Quilts does comes after the quilts are made.
~Recycling - waste nothing, use it all
One t-shirt quilt leaves a lot of scrap t-shirt material. (Enough scraps to fill 3 Walmart sacks to overflowing) But the quilter in me thought 'cool', I'll just turn those scraps into something new. So I saved everything!
Here are a couple tote bags I made with the scrap t-shirt fabric.Didn't take me long to realize that the scraps were piling up much, much faster than I could use them. In my effort to recycle the scraps myself, I had become literally buried in t-shirt scraps. I needed help. So I placed an ad on Craig's List for free t-shirt scraps and the results were amazing!
Several boxes of scraps went to Lifestyles, Inc. - an organization that helps individuals with developmental disabilities learn to live on their own. They are going to use it in their College for Living - art and sewing programs.
A couple huge bags went to help a start-up screenprinting business. They need tons of scrap t-shirt fabric for running samples before printing actual t-shirts for customers.
A retired lady with a big heart and some really cool craft ideas took several bags of scraps. She is going to make pins and necklaces for nursing home patients, senior citizens centers and adult daycare centers.
The rest of the fabric went to a group of ladies at the First Christian Church of Fayetteville. They are doing a mission project sewing reusable monthly pads for girls in an orphanage in the Congo. These girls have schools that they can attend to get an education, but they can't attend during their monthly cycle because they don't have any feminine products use. Wow! Providing such a basic need has the potential to improve the rest of these girls lives just by allowing them to keep up in school. Way to go ladies!I'm very glad that I made recycling a goal for SoSews T-shirt Quilts. Yes, I have done my part to not fill up the landfills. But the most exciting benefits were unexpected. My business has gotten to be a small part of bringing sunshine, experience and even learning into the lives of people here in NW Arkansas and around the world. How cool is that!
Til next time,
Sonja
