Guerilla Bagging Workshop with BCU Shift, Birmingham Scrapstore and Morsbags

I have been interested in sustainability for a very long time. Anything that looks at being eco-conscious, particularly within fashion, I try to join in with to share my own thoughts and broaden my knowledge through other eco creatives.

This interest has led me to book a ticket to Shift, the upcoming student conference exploring sustainability, and the future of fashion and textiles at Birmingham City University. In the lead up to this, the organisers set up a guerilla bagging workshop to create recycled bags to exhibit at the conference. This workshop was in association with Birmingham Scrapstore and Morsbags. 

The Birmingham Scrapstore collects unwanted materials and redistributes them within the community so they can be used for alternative purposes, and therefore, reducing the amount of waste that heads to landfill. 

Morsbags is an organisation encouraging people to make and gift a bag made of recycled materials instead of using a plastic bag. Their aim is to reduce the use of plastic bags and reduce the amount that ends up in our waterways; causing harm to marine life and the environment. 

For this workshop, i chose to combine a number of recycled resources together and try and make the bag as zero-waste as possible. Whatever needed to be cut off was either repurposed on the bag in someway, shared with another person, or returned back to the Scrapstore so the remnants could be turned into stuffing for cushions and toys. 

Take a look at the photos below to see how i built my recycled bag.

There are some tickets still available for the Shift conference if you would like to go. It is a free event and open to everyone. Johnny Kerkhof and Caryn Franklin will be speaking at the event. You can book your place here and follow Shift in the lead up to the conference on their instagram page.