Knitting with a repurpose: Woman makes suit of plastic bags

By: The Associated Press Posted: Last Modified:

Advertisement

Advertise with us

GREECE, N.Y. - Rosa Ferrigno's new suit takes recycling to an extreme — she knitted it from more than 300 plastic grocery bags.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/03/2019 (2739 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

GREECE, N.Y. – Rosa Ferrigno’s new suit takes recycling to an extreme — she knitted it from more than 300 plastic grocery bags.

The 75-year-old woman from Greece in western New York whiled away the winter knitting a skirt and jacket from filmy brown bags scissored into thin strips that were tied together to make yarn. She lined it with cotton fabric.

The finished garment is quite chic, with a tweedy look from green printing on the brown bags.

This March 19, 2019 photo shows Rosa Ferrigno wearing a suit that she made from 300 plastic grocery bags in Greece, N.Y. Ferrigno spent two months over the winter knitting a skirt and jacket from filmy brown bags scissored into thin strips tied together to make yarn. She says she did it just for fun.(Jamie Germano/Democrat & Chronicle via AP)
This March 19, 2019 photo shows Rosa Ferrigno wearing a suit that she made from 300 plastic grocery bags in Greece, N.Y. Ferrigno spent two months over the winter knitting a skirt and jacket from filmy brown bags scissored into thin strips tied together to make yarn. She says she did it just for fun.(Jamie Germano/Democrat & Chronicle via AP)

Her daughter, Fran Bertalli, tells the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle that Ferrigno has been knitting and sewing since her childhood in Sicily.

Last summer, Ferrigno saw someone’s purse made from repurposed plastic bags and started her own bag projects, making two purses before the suit.

She says she does it just for fun.

Advertisement Advertise With Us

Report Error Submit a Tip

Advertisement

Learn more about Winnipeg Free Press Advertising solutions

More Stories

Exit Party

Near-future U.S. the setting for surreal dual-world storyline

Reviewed by Morley Walker 4 minute read Preview

Near-future U.S. the setting for surreal dual-world storyline

Reviewed by Morley Walker 4 minute read 2:01 AM CDT

It’s not every day you encounter a seriously intended literary novel that attempts to dramatize a mind-bending physics theory like quantum entanglement.

But then the B.C.-born-and-raised Emily St. John Mandel is not your everyday Canadian literary writer.

In her late 40s, she has lived in the U.S. for her entire writing career. She is best known for her 2014 dystopian novel Station Eleven, about a Shakespearean acting troupe navigating a pandemic-ravaged America.

Her new outing, her seventh, Exit Party, shares DNA with detective and sci-fi genres more than with conventional literary fiction.

Read
2:01 AM CDT
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES New polling data shows 55 per cent of decided voters favour incumbent mayor Scott Gillingham compared to 23 per cent for Kevin Klein and 11 per cent for Mike Vogiatzakis.

Gillingham in lead with decided voters

Nicole Buffie 6 minute read Preview

Gillingham in lead with decided voters

Nicole Buffie 6 minute read Yesterday at 6:55 PM CDT

A cloud of uncertainty is hanging over Winnipeg as October’s municipal election nears.

Three months after a poll showed more than 40 per cent of Winnipeggers wanted to see someone other than current mayor Scott Gillingham elected, a new Abacus Data poll indicates more than half of Winnipeg voters are undecided heading into next month’s civic election.

Of decided voters, 55 per cent favour Gillingham compared to 23 per cent for former councillor and provincial cabinet minister Kevin Klein and 11 per cent for funeral director Mike Vogiatzakis.

Of all respondents, just over 50 per cent said they were unsure while 13 per cent said they will not vote.

Read
Yesterday at 6:55 PM CDT

Not good bet to shoulder gambling issue alone

Maureen Scurfield 5 minute read 2:01 AM CDT

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: We’re living a lie over at our house, but it’s holding the family together.

I know my husband is deeply into gambling. If it weren’t for my steady job I don’t know where the family would be! I insist on paying all of our bills. I also funnel some major cash off to my sister, in case my husband tries to tap into my accounts somehow when I’m out of the house.

He doesn’t know my passwords, since I keep changing them, but he sometimes shows up behind me when I’m online, like he’s dying to ask something.

I say, “What are you looking at? Stop looking over my shoulder!” Then he makes a lame joke and goes away.

BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS FILES United Way Winnipeg president and CEO Matthew Cutler says the charity’s donor base has shrunk significantly over several decades.

United Way, other charities fight for dollars as donor base shrinks

Scott Billeck 7 minute read Preview

United Way, other charities fight for dollars as donor base shrinks

Scott Billeck 7 minute read Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT

Winnipeg’s charitable sector is being squeezed from both sides: demand for help is growing while the pool of donors to meet that need is shrinking.

The imbalance is increasingly being carried by a relatively small group of deep-pocketed donors. Last year, 600 people — about three per cent of United Way Winnipeg’s individual donors — accounted for roughly $8 million, or 55 per cent of individual donations.

The fundraising pitch isn’t getting any easier.

Homelessness and public drug use have become increasingly visible, household budgets remain strained and the problems charities are trying to address can seem so entrenched that donors may reasonably wonder what difference another contribution can make.

Read
Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT

Canada must not accept another Iranian autocracy

David Matas 5 minute read 2:01 AM CDT

Iran is a state run by a radical government victimizing its citizens and its neighbours. How do we change that? Any regime change that repeats the mistakes of the past is not a solution.

What went wrong in the past which led to the current regime? One answer is the U.K. and American aided coup which led to the ouster in 1953 of a democratically elected government headed at the time by Mohammad Mossadegh and its replacement with an American friendly autocrat, the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

The Shah imposed his rule through the Iranian National Intelligence and Security Organization — SAVAK, the acronym of its Persian name. SAVAK systematically inflicted torture, arbitrary killings and extra-judicial killings on perceived opponents of the regime. It was only a matter of time before repression of a regime directed to serving foreign interests would be overthrown.

What replaced the regime of the Shah, in 1979, the current regime of the mullahs, is a regime as intolerant and violent as the regime of the Shah and then some. That was not inevitable. But neither was it surprising. The vicious nature of the current regime, following the example set by the Shah, and its hatred for the United States, reacting to the U.S. aided imposition of the Shah, both echoes and reacts to the past. In 1979, the U.S. reaped what it sowed in 1953.

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Mayoral candidate Kevin Klein held a campaign event Friday at the Four Crowns Restaurant on McPhillips Street.

Klein launches mayoral campaign with pledge to make Winnipeg safest city in Canada

Joyanne Pursaga 5 minute read Preview

Klein launches mayoral campaign with pledge to make Winnipeg safest city in Canada

Joyanne Pursaga 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 7:48 PM CDT

Mayoral candidate Kevin Klein says he would make Winnipeg the safest city in Canada by the end of his four-year term, if elected.

“Crime is happening all over the city and we have to take steps to address it,” Klein said at his first campaign announcement Friday morning.

The candidate said crime is “getting out of control,” noting his grandchild’s car seat was recently stolen from a vehicle parked in a typically quiet neighbourhood.

He promised to hire 100 to 110 more police officers, which he believes would cost between $9 million and $11 million.

Read
Updated: Yesterday at 7:48 PM CDT