Here at morsbags HQ we have a serious crush on the divine Patrick Grant (from the Sewing Bee), so here’s an exciting competition… fancy designing a morsbag for him? The winning morsbag will be presented to him in May! Details to follow soon… thinking caps on!!
Lion’s Sponsorship of morsbags labels
Thanks to sponsorship by Rothley & Soar Valley Lions club for morsbags labels for Sue’s Mountsorrel Pod! Sue has made red morsbags for their 40th year (Ruby Anniversary) and is busy making 200 for the Christmas food handout… good luck and thank you Sue!
Please set up a pod if you have ordered labels…
HUGE numbers of labels orders coming in 
🙂 – which is brilliant – but please please do set up a pod so the morsbags you make can be added to the tally, which in turn inspires others… the number of labels we send out doesn’t correspond to the number of bags added to the tally and it would be so much more impressive if it did!
Here’s the link to set up a pod so you can add: https://morsbags.com/pods/create-a-pod/ (you can mark yourself as uncontactable and we’ll never spam you, if that’s a worry)
Morsbagging stats for February!
Beattie is our fabulous resident number cruncher and this is what happened in February:
3026 bags were made by 48 pods.
Pods that made bags: Earthlings, Guy’s Marsh Prison, Whissybags, Wundertuete, Bude Baggers, Pickering Stitchers, Sue’s Mountsorrel, Material Girls, Darting Frog, Macs Bags, Niffy Bags, The old bag, Atherstone Pod, Less is Mors, Die Nähdamen, Brislington WI, Made in Quarry Bank, Trusty Bags, Offcuts, Megsmors, Women of Wimborne (WOW), Whetstone Whales, Daily Thread, Valbags, Bargebaggers, JEMors, Crafty Chatters of Lowdham, Greenbags, Rags to Bags, Ballypod, Ireland, The old bag, Handcross Bag Lady, Les’spod, LoopyBags, The Taylor’s Needle Community, Bag Masters, Anstey, Leicestershire, Eversewcrafty, Ivybags, Harborough Hit Bags, prime2357, Megsmors, Monty Morsbags, Stoffdronning, Chayce, Friends of St.Margaret’s, The Asfordby One, The Scrapstore Birmingham
We welcome 12 New pods: Sue’s Mountsorrel, Made in Quarry Bank, Megsmors, Women of Wimborne (WOW), Anstey, Leicestershire, Tam’s Pod, Bagsofbags, The Sewing Corner, Upcyclebags, Stoffdronning, Friends of St.Margaret’s, The Asfordby One
Kudos to the pods that appear in both lists – you get a gold star for not letting the grass grow under your feet 🙂
Comments:
LoopyBags wrote
“Solo morsbagger just getting back into the swing of making again after a few months inactivity (Feb 2017). Aiming to get to 2000 made by end of 2017.”
Welcome back Chris!
“At the The Taylor’s Needle, we believe in supporting our community with the skills and resources that we have available. We use our leftover scraps of fabric (and considerable amount of skill ; ) to help improve our environment and the lives of others in our community. We welcome anyone wanting to join our little team here in the Treasure Valley!”
For those not in the know, the wonderful-sounding Treasure Valley is at Nampa, near Boise, Idaho, USA
Noosa Dillybags writes “I joined Morsbags 7 years ago when I had broken my leg and sewing was about all I could do. Since then I’ve joined a group called Boomerang Bags, Noosa and we share the same goals as Morsbags. We currently sew from Wallace House, Noosa Arts & Crafts in Noosaville on Monday & Wednesday mornings from 9.30 to 12.30. We have made hundreds of bags which have been distributed throughout the Noosa shire to organisations such as Noosa Council, IGA supermarket and many smaller retail shops selling fruit and veg, books, health foods and more. We welcome all new volunteers whether you can sew or not. There are many jobs for non sewers and we are happy to teach you to sew if you want to learn.”
Noosa is in Queensland, Australia
“Wundertüte is a solo pod and bags the local library and the Vechelde book swap. Recently I discovered the Morsbag pattern for wheelchairs and gave them a go. I found a willing “test pilot” who tried out my prototype bag on her Zimmer frame. As a result, eight other ladies in the nursery home requested bags for themselves. I was thrilled and, of course, obliged.”
Thanks for all your efforts, morsbaggers everywhere! The turtles and whales thank you too! 
Next Handout is 20th of November!
Let’s bag everyone for Christmas and remind them that morsbags make not only great presents but fabulous reusable wrapping paper!
We’re going to bag a local village – one morsbag through every letterbox that day – what will you do?
A coordinated handout means that many morsbags will be rehomed on the same day… get together with friends and pod members to have fun handing out morsbags.
Please join in!
Ecobags is our Featured Pod!
Congratulations Ecobags for being our Featured Pod – you’ve made 3356 morsbags to date, so we asked you these questions:
Who is in your pod?
Just me.
When/where do you sew bags?
My living room – any time I have time.
Where did you first hear about Morsbags?
A friend.
Did you think about the use of plastic bags before?
Yes.
What type of sewing machines do you use?
Janome 1560 and, on loan from a local environmental group, an overlocking machine, Jaguar 097. This has enabled me to double production!
Please give 3 adjectives to describe your first morsbag.
Interesting, satisfying, enjoyable.
What was the most unusual thing you’ve made a Morsbag out of?
An apron, ties for handles.
Who was your first bagging victim?
A friend.
What’s your finest Morsbag moment?
Hearing from morsbags HQ that the organiser of a local gardens open emailed in appreciation of morsbags I supplied for their sale of plants.
Who do you give your morsbags to?
Health food shop. Vegetable market. Village shops and markets. Food Cupboard. Quantock Eco – (people growing fruit and veg for the Food Cupboard). Country Market. Nappy Library. Library groups. Friends and family and anyone I meet who needs a bag.
Who would you like to guerilla bag most? (dead or alive)
Anyone still using a PLASTIC BAG!
Of course none of this would be possible if donations of fabric didn’t arrive. All sorts turn up from washed out bedding to considerable amounts of unused curtain, upholstery and dress materials, all potentially recyclable. That’s what makes it interesting!
Morsbags in Popular Patchwork Magazine
Morsbags is featured in Popular Patchwork Magazine – come read all about it!
5th of March 2016
The idea is to sew like mad to make as many lovely morsbags to hand out as possible – perhaps organise a local group for courage, support and joy, and hand out free morsbags to locals wherever you are in the world……
You can:
- bag your local corner shop
- bag a local restaurant
- bag a whole street by posting through letterboxes
- bag a theatre
- bag a bus
- bag your entire family
- bag the local school
The possibilities are endless and it’s up to YOU, wherever YOU are!
If you fancy joining in, give us, and your local radio/newspaper, a shout. Email, Facebook or write on the forum to say that you’re IN and see what people in other areas are doing…
Harborough HIT Bags is Featured Pod!
Congratulations Harborough HIT Bags for being our Featured Pod – you’ve made 8682 morsbags to date, so we asked you these questions:
Who is in your pod?
There are about 15 people – all women though we have tried to recruit men. Some have been in the pod since it started some 6 years ago. Originally we were supported by a local council officer but now we are part of a volunteer environment group and we can claim some money from them for expenses – though we try not to. We now have a podlet who meet at a retirement complex locally. In all we have sewn over 8000 bags since we started and we always celebrate every time we hit the thousand. We are already looking forward to the 10,000th celebration.
When/where do you sew bags?
Most people do their sewing at home. We meet once a month on a Monday evening at a local Council Centre but that meeting is mainly to share fabric and information- we have a cupboard there where we can store fabric etc. At the meeting we organise events, see what labels we need and of course eat cake. Some people sew and some cut out bags. Others just chat – it does say sociable on the label!
Where did you first hear about Morsbags?
Most of us have heard about it from seeing the HIT bags stall at local events and then coming along to a meeting to check us out.
Did you think about the use of plastic bags before?
We are all keen to improve the environment and some of us are also volunteer litter pickers and river cleaners so the Morsbags ideas fitted in well.
What type of sewing machines do you use?
All sorts though we have some hand cranked ones that we use on stalls when we are giving demonstrations on how to sew bags and they are always popular with people coming up and reminiscing about their sewing days.
What was the most unusual thing you’ve made a Morsbag out of?
Shirts are good fun. We try to make a variety of bags so that all can have ones they like – men like darker colours, children like smaller ones. Some people like shorter or longer handles. We find that people can be quite fussy about the bags even though they are free.
Who was your first bagging victim?
Most people start with their families especially if they have not sewn for a while. We give them out at local events, fetes, fairs, supermarkets and every so often we go round to local businesses in the town and give them out so that staff can have them on site for lunch time shopping.
What’s your finest Morsbag moment?
Seeing people’s faces when they realise they are free and with no catch is always fun.
How do you get fabric for more bags?
We are always asking for donations of fabric when we give bags out. We have paper tags inside each bag which gives information about us. The local Council offices are willing to receive it on our behalf. We try the local curtain makers and charity shops. We have tried to publicise ourselves on the local radio and the local papers but we always are on the lookout for more. We even have our own Facebook page now. If we can’t use any fabric we are given we try to recycle it to other craft groups, schools etc. so none of it is wasted.
Wir in Arnsberg is Pod of the Month!
Congratulations Wir in Arnsberg Pod for being ‘Pod of the Fortnight’ – you’ve made 1400 morsbags to date, so we asked you these questions:
1) Who is in your pod?
We are about three women, who regularly meet to sew morsbags.  We meet in a kind of ‘drop in centre’, where people can come to with their sewing problems so there is a varying number of sewers who attend. On average we are about 5 – 8 morsbaggers who meet.
2) When/where do you sew morsbags?
As mentioned above, we meet at a kind of open place once a week. Sometimes twice a week with a special morsbags workshop. It´s based at the local train station.
3) Where did you first hear about morsbags?
I heard about morsbags from my friend Angela who has been sewing morsbags for some years.
4) Did you think about your use of plastic bags before?
Yes. We’ve been interested in saving the environment and helping nature for a long time 🙂 We’ve always been interested in great projects like Clean Ocean etc. – it was just a question of time getting in touch with the idea of morsbags.
5) What type of sewing machine/s do you use?
We use sewing machines of several different brands.
 6) What was the most unusual or satisfying thing you’ve made a morsbag out of?
We love to make morsbags out of men’s shirts.
7) Who was your first bagging victim?
Of course the family was completely equipped with morsbags 🙂 followed by neighbours and friends. Besides this, morsbags are given to the owners of shops in our town and they give them to their customers. Our “marketing-organisation” of the shops pays the morsbags-labels. In every morsbag the customers find the explanation of the idea of the morsbags.
8) What’s been your finest morsbag moment?
It’s always a pleasure to look into surprised faces of strangers or our customers, giving them morsbags free at the supermarket´s cash desks or in our shops.
9) Who would you like to guerilla bag most? (dead or alive)
Those people who produce plastic bags, to give them an idea of what else to do with the lots of money spending for producing those unfriendly bags!
1) Wer ist in eurem Pod?
 Die Initiative des Morsbag-Nähens wurde von unserer Werbegemeinschaft “Wir in Arnsberg” ins Leben gerufen. Wir sind 3 Frauen, die sich regelmäßig treffen, um Morsbags zu nähen. Wir nähen in einer öffentlichen “Nähstube”, in die Menschen kommen können, um sich bei ihren Nähproblemen helfen zu lassen. Im Durch-schnitt sind wir 5 – 8 Personen.
2) Wann/wo näht ihr Morsbags?
 Wie oben erwähnt, treffen wir uns einmal wöchentlich in einer Nähstube im städtischen Bürgerzentrum am hiesigen Bahnhof. Manchmal zweimal wöchentlich mit einem speziellen Morsbag-Workshop.
3) Wo hast du zum ersten Mal von Morsbags gehört?
Ich habe Morsbags durch meine Freundin Angela kennengelernt, die seit Jahren diese Taschen näht und verschenkt.
4) Hast du schon früher über deine Verwendung von Plastiktaschen nachgedacht?
Ja. Wir sind schon seit langer Zeit daran interessiert, der Umwelt zu helfen. Das Projekt “Säubert den Ozean” fanden wir z. B. toll, so dass es nur eine Frage der Zeit war, dass wir mit der Idee der Morsbags in BerĂĽhrung kamen.
5) Welche Art von Nähmaschinen benutzt ihr?
Wir nutzen Nähmaschinen von verschiedenen Marken.
6) Was war das ungewöhnlichste oder beste Material, aus dem ihr eine Morsbag genäht habt?
 Wir lieben es, aus alten Herrenhemden Morsbags zu nähen.
7)Â Wer war dein erstes Taschen-Opfer?
NatĂĽrlich meine Familie, die komplett mit Morsbags ausgestattet wurde, gefolgt von Nachbarn und Freunden. AuĂźerdem verteilen wir die Morsbags an Händler in unserer Stadt, die Taschen an ihre Kunden verschenken. Unsere Werbegemeinschaft “Wir in Arnsberg” bezahlt die Morsbag-Etiketten. In jeder Tasche finden die Kunden eine Beschreibung der Morsbag-Idee.
8) Was war dein schönster Morsbag Moment?
Es ist immer eine große Freude, in die überraschten Gesichter von Fremden an der Supermarkt-Kasse oder von Kunden bei uns in den Geschäften zu schauen, wenn man ihnen eine Morsbag schenkt.
9)Â Wem wĂĽrdest du am liebsten eine Guerilla-Tasche geben?
Den Menschen, die Plastiktaschen produzieren, damit sie eine Idee bekommen, was man sonst mit der Menge an Geld machen könnte, die für das Produzieren dieser umweltschädigenden Taschen ausgegeben wird.
