They were hard at work saving pounds and pennies and planet by reusing unwanted clothes at Llangattock Community Hall recently, at a special upcycling workshop organised by Llangattock Community Council’s Environment Working Group.

It’s all part of The Great Big Green Week and Beyond, which has seen the group organise events through to mid-October to raise awareness of the environmental emergency.

They hosted a clothes upcycling workshop in the Llangattock Village Hall on Saturday. Julia Harris and Sarah Valentin of DaTi (Welsh for Good on You) clothing came from Cardiff to run the workshop. Julia and Sarah set up The Sustainable Studio in Cardiff in 2016, promoting the creative sector in Wales, with sustainability at the heart of the DaTi brand.

The lottery-funded workshop demonstrated how to upcycle using second-hand clothes by combining different elements and materials, adding embellishments, buttons, and detailing. Local people were inspired to create their unique pieces from upcycled materials. Projects included adapting an existing long coat to a shorter jacket, adding a panel to a skirt in contrasting fabric, making trousers out of a skirt, adding contrasting sleeves to a top and making a carpet bag out of a skirt.

Further events include running a repair cafe on Saturday, October 15. There are environmental-themed free film showings on Wednesday evenings, with a showing of “2040” on October 5 “Reflection: a walk with water” on October 12 and “The Seeds of Vandana Shiva” on October 19. Free family-orientated films will be showing on Sunday afternoons, including “The Lorax” “Wall-E” and “Bee Movie”.

The series of events ends on Saturday, October 22 with a Plant, Seed and Produce Swap to be held at the Recreation ground.

For further details, please see the Llangattock Community Council Facebook page: www.facebook.com/LlangattockCommunityCouncilor