I was in the checkout aisle of the grocery store when the cashier asked, “Paper or plastic?” It was then that I realized I had left my giant bag of reusable bags in the trunk of my car. Again. I thought to myself, “The Edina Library encourages people to leave reusable bags for others in case they need one. Why couldn’t stores do the same?” I kid you not, that night while on Facebook, I came across a post from Linden Hills resident Felicity Britton. She said she owned about 20 sewing machines of varying ages and weight, and was looking for a repair person to come to her home and fix all of them. People left recommendations, but one person asked, “Do you collect sewing machines?” She replied that she uses them for Boomerang Bags, a grassroots effort where volunteers sew cloth remnants into reusable shopping bags that are left at local stores for anyone to borrow or even keep. Every month, volunteers gather at Britton’s renovated Masonic temple home to make these bags. She hopes that a reader here will either volunteer or create an Edina branch of Boomerang Bags.
The spirit of reuse doesn’t end with cloth bags. It can also begin in the closet. I’m the type of person who thinks she can’t have too many coats. Over the years, my coats have migrated from my side of the mudroom onto my husband’s coat rack. (That’s nothing compared to my shoe collection.) I love the idea of a coat or a jacket for each occasion. But what if we could invest in a piece that could do it all? Susan Sun of Equation styles one coat five ways.
What is your favorite coat? Send me a DM on Instagram at @edinamag.
Happy autumn and happy Halloween!
