We recently happened upon a great initiative in East Vancouver. Some of you may already know about it, but if you don’t, you might be happy to. It’s called Our Social Fabric (OSF). It is a textile recycling initiative that has been in operation since 2009. The aim of Our Social Fabric is twofold, one to keep textiles out of the landfill and two, put those materials into the hands of creatives within our community. This volunteer run organization receives donations of textiles, fabrics and sewing notions including patterns, zippers, buttons and more. The items come from a variety of sources including the film industry, theatre, estate closures and manufacturing to name a few. Their team of volunteers sort through the donations, organize them and offer them to the public at drastically low prices. We recently attended one of their monthly sales to see what this space was all about. We have to say, they put on a good event. Everything is organized well by colour and similar materials. The fabric is pre-cut and marked as to how many metres and total cost. There was some fabric available on rolls for $5.00 per metre including some beautiful linen. Although prices vary depending on the material, $3 – $5 per metre was fairly common. Our Social Fabric works out of a space in the Russell Building located at #270 – 1275 Venables Street at Clark Drive. Their sales happen about once a month, sometimes more. All upcoming sales are posted on their website, Facebook and Instagram. Their next sale happens Thursday, September 13th from 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm. If you sew, this is a definite spot worth checking out. If you wish to brush up your sewing or learn, Our Social Fabric also offers workshops every now and again. Check out their Facebook page for upcoming classes. You can also follow them on Instagram to keep an eye on upcoming sales. If you attend their sales, we suggest arriving early to get first dibs on items and do expect a line up.
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