Feature Me Friday: Fashion Green T-bags

This week we feature Fashion Green T-bags.
Linda comes to us from Kent, Ohio.
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Who is Fashion Green T Bags?
I'm a 52 year-old retired teacher, a mother and a wife. I value my family and friends above all else and I try to make a positive difference in the world. I run my shop to raise money for our local food bank.
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What’s the first thing you remember making?
The first thing I remember making is a bag from an old t-shirt. It was a bit over done and I've since made them much simpler. I like them better now.
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Why work with recycled materials?
We consume too much new material in our country when we have perfectly good reusable material easily at our disposal. If we are to be good stewards of our Earth we MUST use less new and make fewer demands on our natural resources.
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What are your favorite tools?
My favorite tools are my sewing machine and a seam ripper.
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Where do you work?
I work in my kitchen at the table or in the "dining room" that I've converted to my craft room. I don't really have a permanent set-up. I just work where I feel like working.
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What music do you listen to while you’re working?
I usually listen to NPR.
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What do you do for fun?
I swim, work out, bike ride, hike and take camping vacations with my family. I spend some time on the computer "socializing" but I prefer to meet people face-to-face.
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Who inspires you?
So many people. My husband and my children make me want to be the best person I can be.
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How do you promote your work?
I don't spend a lot of time promoting. I belong to a few Groups on Etsy and I try to renew items regularly. I haven't worked a lot on my shop recently because I'm back in graduate school for my 2nd master's degree and my time is spent writing papers and reading...lots of reading.
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Besides Etsy, where can we find you work?
You can find my work at occasional craft shows.

What’s in your future?
I hope to work in the field of bully prevention/remediation when I am finished with my degree program. I also want to continue to maintain my Etsy Shop so that I may continue to raise money for the local food bank.
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Have any words of wisdom?
REUSE REUSE REUSE and be kind.
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Images & Text © fashiongreentbags
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Marketing Monday: 10 Tips for Getting Press for Your Products

Sam Hirst of Inklore wrote a post last week on a blog called meylah
'10 Tips for Getting Press for Your Products'
It is chock full of advice from "Ask!" to "Try, Try Again" & "Be a Social Butterfly."


fashiongreentbags

"The best way to make sure that the creative powers that be find out about you and your work is to introduce yourself to them. If you sit back and wait to be found, you will likely be waiting a long time."

"Believe me, I know it’s hard not to take it personally when a blogger decides not to show your work. I’ve been told no more times than I can even remember. Some bloggers are really lovely and will send you a note and others won’t, but don’t give up."

"Be active in the blogging world, talk about other people, and spotlight others, what goes around comes around if the motives are right. Be honest and genuinely social. Go back to high school and think about what made the 'cool kids' cool. I wasn't one, but it's my guess they didn't sit around worrying about why they weren't noticed." olive manna


What have you done to get press for your products?

Trashion Team Spotlight- Linda of FashionGreenTBags!

Shop Name: FashionGreenTBags

Shop Address: http://www.fashiongreentbags.etsy.com


Tell us a bit about yourself:
I'm ridiculously happily married and have 2 children, Michelle is a 20 year-old college honor student and David is a 17 (almost 18) year-old high school honor student. I'm a 26 year teaching veteran but I'm currently on a medical leave. I began my Etsy business to keep me busy and to hopefully positively impact the environment. I'm passionate about children's rights, children, the environment and reaching out to people of all ages who are in need. I currently volunteer for several senior citizens at a local apartment complex.

Trashion materials: recycled fabrics obtained from clearance or sale items at thrift stores or garage sales.

I transform them into: reusable bags (to replace plastic bags at the grocery/market store.) watches, other miscellaneous items as I think of them. I've also used fused plastic newspaper bags and shredded paper to create my padded laptop case.

How do you do it? (a bit personal, don't you think? LOL) I am not really a seamstress. I make up what I'm doing as I do it. As a result the final products are sometimes the 5th or 1000th attempt.


What inspired you to do this and why are you involved in trashion? I've been concerned about the environment for a very long time. I'm doing everything I can think of to reduce plastic in my life. I think our society is too consumptive and way too highly dependent on material acquisitions for making us feel worthwhile. I think our priorities have become a little mixed-up.

Do you remember the first thing you made using the trashion concept? Yes
What was it? It was a resuable bag made from a t-shirt.

What are your current projects and what is on the horizon? I'm making some bags and I've found some great leather skirts that I want to make into some purses.


Why should people buy handmade, and buy from trashion? Handmade is very special. Since we're all small enterprises, we depend greatly upon the satisfaction of our customers so our products are quality creations and we strive for total customer satisfaction. You don't find that in "big box" stores.

Buying Trashion is a way to feed our desire for new products and have a minimal impact on the environment at the same time. We use very few new materials and recycled packaging so our goods leave micro-mini footprints. Repurposing old materials is an exercise in total creativity. To look at an existing item and envision it as something different is fun and exciting and results in surprising new products.

Thank you for sharing your awesome work with us Linda! Great reuse!