Something Old Is Something New

"When Rue MaCall walked down the aisle at her wedding in September, everything she wore was second-hand, borrowed or stitched from someone else's discarded fabrics. Her earrings were made from tassels she found in a donation bin. A friend lent her pearls purchased 50 years ago. She made her dress by hand, finding all the second-hand silk, thread and lace she needed from a single source, the Ragfinery, where she works as a program manager, in Bellingham, Washington." Since the rags-to-stitches effort began in 2014, it has diverted over a million pounds of textiles from landfills, where fabrics can take decades to decay while polluting groundwater. Each day, unwanted textiles are carted into the warehouse-like shop, to be sold by the pound at a fraction of the price. "Buckets of buttons, spools of thread and bins of scrap fabrics are sorted and displayed, creating a sort of treasure hunt for visitors. There's even one bin labelled 'unfinished projects' where crafters can pick up one persons conceded effort and renew it in an ambition of their own." Regular classes invite community to use shared tools, take sewing classes, and learn new crafting skills. "It's amazing what people can make," reflects retail manager Arora Timberlyn reflects to The Tyee. "And it's also art."

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