Happy Friday!

Happy Friday lovely readers! I hope you have had a good week and are looking forward to the weekend. This week I have made a crossbody bag for myself using gorgeous fabric given to me by my neighbour Mako. This leads me on to a subject which is very dear to my heart.

My Own Crossbody Handbag

Made from fabric from my lovely neighbour Mako….the strap is a belt from a pair of trousers

September is all about ethics and the environment as it is Secondhand September and also Organic September. Claire & I love to reuse fabric & haberdashery given to us by friends who have no further use for them. We turn it into makes such as rag wreaths and fabric art pictures. We also love to make patchwork fabric which we then turn into bags and homeware. This means zero waste and no landfill plus all the items are unique. Some of our makes are below….

Secondhand September began as a campaign by Oxfam as a way of getting people to donate, reuse or rewear their clothing. A frightening statistic from The Ethical Consumer is that around 360,000 tonnes of clothes are thrown away every year. The Ethical Consumer does say that over the last few years this figure has been improving with more people (of all ages) stating they are buying more secondhand clothes or supporting small businesses and buying handmade.

Organic September is the UK’s largest campaign for the organic market. This year celebrates the 50th anniversary of the organic certification in the UK. In Wales there are more and more companies encompassing the organic ethos. In Swansea we have the amazing FarmCo who celebrate both organic food & drink and local businesses. Check out their website as they showcase different farmers and growers every week.

This week they are highlighting grass fed beef produced by the Douglas family in Penmaen, Gower, Swansea

Have a look at their website (link above) for opening hours and even recipes

Thank you for reading and I will see you next Friday. This will also be the day our second newsletter goes out. We have had lovely feedback from our subscribers. For October we will be looking at sustainability and also starting a series looking at the history of the handbag x Suzanne