Barb and Heather weaving on a double frame
Creating community, while also providing handmade sleeping mats, a group of local ladies are giving what could be considered trash, a second life.
Half a dozen women congregate at Patti LaPorte’s home South of Bayfield every Wednesday morning for a couple of hours, share a snack, share their burdens, and hand weave sleeping mats out of donated milk bags.
LaPorte says that the group has provided much needed solace and community for it’s members, especially in times of social isolation – weaving mats throughout COVID in her two car garage, eventually moving indoors to her living room,
Patti LaPorte has taken on the moniker with pride.
She says that she’s taken on the moniker of “the milk bag lady” – with locals leaving their donations on her front porch, or on the back seat of her car when she’s at church.
Each mat takes between 130 – 150 bags to complete, and they’ve completed close to 20,000 mats – with many of them being shipped overseas to third world countries to be used as sleeping mats, and others remaining with the unhoused in our own community.
Every individual bag is flattened and cut to specification,
Kathy and Patti flattening the bags and putting them on nails on the boards to be stapled together
The strips are then handwoven into a mat, which is hung on a frame.
Patti says they have practical uses here in Canada as well, with some of her family members requesting them as mats for camping to keep the moisture off of their sleeping bags, cushioning for their knees in the garden, or as an entry mat to wipe off your feet.
She says that reusing what would otherwise be considered garbage makes complete and total sense,
If you have milk bags that you aren’t using, you can keep them aside, make sure that they’re clean and dry, and Patti can arrange for pickup.
Alternatively, you can also take them to Blessings in Zurich, where Patti picks up the donations regularly.
Written by: B. Shakyaver
