Make.Change: A DIY sleeping bag for the homeless
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.ย. 2024
- This feisty 76-year-old retired guesthouse owner proves that you don't have to be a trained designer or even a traditional creative to come up with ingenious solutions to changing people’s lives.
In 2004 Jo Maxwell started the Cape Town version of the Red Hat Renegades, an American social club for women over the age of 50. But for Maxwell it was about more than just having fun: "I changed the motto from 'Fun and friendship over 50' to 'Fun and friendship with a purpose'."
This kick-started her active involvement in community work.
In 2005 while out one night, she stepped out for some fresh air and couldn't help but notice some children wrapped in flimsy blankets asleep in a doorway. This sparked the idea of developing a cheap, waterproof sleeping bag.
Maxwell looked at what resources she had at hand and started experimenting with plastic bags, newspaper and buff tape. She made several prototypes before finalising her design using recycled, heavy-duty plastic bags and ten layers of newspaper. The result was a sleeping bag that is warm and dry and not cumbersome to carry or store away.
The "Good Night and God Bless" sleeping bags, as Maxwell dubbed them, cost approximately R6 to produce and are child's play to make. She has been demonstrating her sleeping bag technique for volunteer groups, schools, corporates and prison inmates and together they have made and distributed more than 20,000 of these nifty bags to people in need.
The idea has even gone globally with volunteers making the bags in Wales, Scotland and England.
If you want to make a Good Night and God Bless sleeping bag, contact Jo Maxwell to do a free demonstration or follow the simple steps below.
Share your story of making change with us on Facebook or Twitter using #makechange.
How to make a Good Night and God Bless Sleeping bag
You will need:
Two 900mm x 1500mm, 60 micron plastic bags
20 sheets of newspaper
A roll of buff tape
Two elastic bands
Step 1
Sort newspapers into two separate piles (tabloid or broadsheet). Open them up so the middle spread is facing up. Take 10 sheets and layer them in rows, overlapping each 10 sheets.
Step 2
Cut small “anchor” pieces of buff tape and anchor the layers of newspaper to each other to keep in place. About 40 should do to start the first bag.
Step 3
Lay the plastic bag on a table with the top edge (the open side of the bag) hanging over the side of the table by about 10cm.
Step 4
Start laying the 10 sheets of newspaper over the plastic, overlapping them until you have covered the plastic. IMPORTANT: Leave about 2cm of plastic exposed on the sides but take newspaper down to the sealed bottom edge. Anchor down every corner of the newspaper down the middle, never at the sides, top or bottom.
Step 5
Take roll of tape and attach to paper, plastic and table, making sure all the newspaper is taped. Do this on the sides and bottom.
Step 6
Carefully flip the bag over and fold over the excess 2cm plastic and tape that was on the table to cover the edge of the newspaper. You are making the inside bag smaller than the second bag, which will slide over when complete.
Step 7
Now cover the second side of the plastic bag with newspapers in exactly the same way, but leaving just the smallest edge of tape visible.
Step 8
Take roll of tape and tape down the three sides. Lift up carefully and the tape will fold underneath easily. Or turn the bag over and tape it down.
Step 9
Take your second bag, give it a shake and then slide over the first bag.
Step 10
Turn the closed end of the bag towards yourself and start folding almost all the way to the open end, expelling air as you go. Turn the open end towards yourself.
Step 11
Separate the two bags, make a pleat and tape down both sides. The bag is now done! Use two elastic bags to secure the rolled up bag.
Good job darling! , you make me proud to be apart of the human race! Xxx
Its as good as my roadeavour I think. Great video!
you did such an amazing thing for the homeless
This is all very interesting the concept that free things can actually warm a person on a cold night. Or help cold animals for that matter. While the video wasn't very clear as to how to construct it and there were comments about the condensation, it definitely promotes creative ideas to use plastic to help the homeless, or cold animals. Thank you so much dear lady for your all your work and caring!
it a question of cost efficiency, as the bag is like a nato army emergency bag. they keep in sweat tho.
I have a idea of making a homeless or hobo shelter in the window shield configuration in cardboard covered in a food wrap plastics. With the added knowledge in origami for the A/V frame. It will be cheaper but effective. But it will be a lot easier to create a mylar liner with a painters cloth like a tortila/taccos style like a sleeping bag.
Those are bad... They will create a lot of condensation and get the person completely wet in the morning.
They are like emergency blankets. They are not meant to spend the night, just to warm up.
If that's the goal buy them emergency blankets, people will be able to keep it in their pocket and they are really light and cheap.
I agree with you.
@@c.b.8411 And, I agree with both of you. Seems this project was more about glorified creativity than a practical solution. Poor design. Doctors recommend the skin and body need air and breathe.
you can attach paracord 1 foot from the top, and 2 feet from the bottom, on the face up part of the bag. Then you can tie it off to something to raise the face up side of the bag off of you and allow airflow. The bags are big enough that there would be enough room.
@@derekmcdaniel6029 thank you Derek for being a"grown-up" about thing's. You were able to give your opinion, all without judgement or stupidity! (Just like a real grown-up would do)
Thanks again! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Our group weaves mats with grocery bsgs. How do you make your sleeping bsgs please?
i would love to have a pattern to share with the youth at my church as a summer project. Please let me know how these are made.
Really awesome idea!
This sleeping bag could protect against cold weather? What temperature they support? I would like to use this idea to help homeless people from my city.
Sorry my bad english.
Hi Gustavo. Yes, these blankets aim to protect against cold weather. Go right ahead, the instructions are included in the description below the video. All the best!
@@DesignIndabaDI Wonderful idea, so many now are homeless. I read the instructions but was so confused. My table isn't big enough to layout there but could on the floor. I picture of each step might help to understand the actual steps. Thanks for doing this for your city's homeless.
It's just a plastic bag, so the newspapers aren't even necessary, other than for structure.
So how do we make them???
Hi Marlene. The instructions for making them can be found in the description beneath the video.
With 1 days pay of minimum wage at a bagle shop you can supply the homeless with 7 sleeping bags that will last years not days, not compromise their health with poor ventilation and temperature rating, and you can feed them with some day old bagles you take home from work. If you are going to try and help people you gota min/max the build. Take advantage of child labor in other countries that can produce real sleeping bags rather than the child "volinteers" in your community wrapping paper in plastic. 🤔
I'm not sure whether to laugh at your comments or be upset! But what your saying is hideous and beyond that it doesn't make a bit of sense. You talk about poor ventilation, but then turn around and say "take advantage of CHILD LABOR"!? To use the FORCED labor of CHILDREN instead of volunteers (that's how you spell volunteers BTW) makes about as much sense as your ignorant ideas on how to help the homeless stay warm! So not only are your "eureka moment"problem solving skills lacking, there down right idiotic. If fact they would cause MORE problems!
And for the record Mr Black, using CHILDREN for ANYTHING besides being a child is a FUCKING CRIME!!!! 🖕🏼😁