Hand-me-up by Shubhra Sinha

Shubhra Sinha, a Kalyani Nagar resident, was always passionate about upcycling. Even as a young girl she never threw anything away and used her creative energies to craft something useful out of these – bits of thread, wool and cloth, old worn-out sweaters, buttons, etc. all stuff that she retrieved from being thrown away into the dustbin.

And creativity was a daily craving for her. She used her hands a lot – knitting, crochet, tatting, stitching, painting – until she got married and her creativity was channelised towards making tasty meals, a beautiful home and garden. 

Recently, her grown-up children have been goading her to pass on her skill. An upcycling seminar for women entrepreneurs she attended, gave her the courage to start something of her own. And that’s how Hand-Me-Up was born. Bits of wool from old sweaters became meditation mats, extra bits of cloth left over from tailoring her clothes, became shopping bags. 300 bags beautifully crafted with some embroidery were gifted to family and friends – her way to remind them to use reusable cloth bags. 

Her father-in-law’s wedding sherwani had sentimental value and could not just be thrown away, so she made fancy purses (potlis) which again were grabbed by her friends as they made great purses to carry for weddings. 

Now Shubhra wants to teach people to make mats from old torn hand-knitted sweaters. These could be a means of livelihood, apart from saving stuff from going to the landfill. It’s a great therapy – where there is mind, eye and hand coordination. Handwork has helped her thread the finest needle. 

She says that absolutely anything can be utilised, this too is a small and not-so-obvious contribution, but every drop counts here!