Morsbags

Carolyn Lawson – Hurstbridge Victoria

Morbags were created in 2007 by a woman named Claire Morsman who felt it was unfair that plastic bags were free, but there was a charge for reusable ones. She made the first one out of some fabric she had found in a skip (it is still going strong). Since then, over 422,000 Morsbags have been made all over the world, by groups of people, or solo makers like me.

Morsbags are made from recycled or reclaimed fabrics (old bedding, clothes, off cuts, factory samples, tents etc.) which means those fabrics do not end up in landfill. My first Morsbags were made from fabrics from my sewing stash that were not big enough to make clothes out of, and then I moved on to old bedding. A lot is donated, but I also buy bedding and fabric at opportunity shops.

I started in 2014 after seeing someone making one on Twitter. It seemed like a good use of spare fabric, and I liked the free aspect. People love a freebie and are always pleased to get a useful and beautiful bag for free. Even the ugliest fabrics make a great looking bag!

The process of making fabric is so environmentally intense (water usage, chemical treatments, dying etc.) that extending the life of a torn doona cover or using up scraps from sewing makes sense - the more the life of the fabric can be prolonged, the better.

As of right now I have made 2,143 bags and have sent them off to libraries, school fetes, recycle centres, food banks, Allwood House events and markets.

All the relevant information, including the basic pattern and how to mark a bag as a Morsbag can be found at www.morsbags.org