We are a wasteful society, but it hasn’t always been that way. There was a time when women especially were so much more resourceful than we are today. They had no choice. As a young widow in the latter years of the Great Depression, my grandmother raised two teenage daughters on a shoestring. She learned to reuse and repurpose out of necessity. Clothing that was outgrown or worn out didn’t go to waste. As a child, I remember hand braided rag rugs on the floors throughout her tiny house and I loved examining the multicoloured squares that made up the quilts on the beds in her spare room.

A regular reader who is also a personal friend shared a great example of repurposing with me recently. The garment was originally a top that belonged to her mother-in-law. When she had worn it until she couldn’t  stand to wear it any longer, she realized that the fabric still had plenty of wear in it. Obviously creative and handy with a sewing machine, she turned it into a dress for one of her granddaughters. Now it’s been passed down to a younger granddaughter, my friend’s 5 year old.

When she sent me the photo of the dress, she also sent a message dictated by her daughter. Here’s some of what little Lizzy had to say…

Did you see the picture of my dress? It is really nice. I wear it all the time and my grandma used to wear it and it was a shirt. Then my cousin was wearing it first. A dress was made for her out of my grandma’s shirt. I like it because I like to play Cinderella in it. Cinderella is a nice game to play, a really nice game. I love playing Cinderella. Oh, I like my dress. It has swirls and little dots around it and it’s so great. The end.

Yes, Lizzy, it really is great and it’s also an example of sustainability at its best.

As the cost of living continues to climb, perhaps more of us will need to be like Lizzy’s grandma. Maybe we’ll need to resurrect some of the repurposing skills that carried our foremothers through difficult times. In addition to protecting our pocketbooks, we’d also be taking valuable steps toward passing on a better world to future generations.