Volunteers from The Fix it Sisters Shed at Kyeemagh have proven they have the right material to help a good cause.
The women repurposed banners and flags previously used for the City of Sydney Festival into bags, pillows, tablecloths, cushions and pot plant holders which will go to charity.
"We were able to use the discarded fabric in a creative and colourful way to give them a new life," said Linda Prince, Chief Sister from The Fix it Sisters Shed.
"We thank the City of Sydney Festival for donating their wonderful banners."
Bayside Councillor and Fix It Sisters Shed member, Councillor Liz Barlow said it is a very generous donation.
"There was about two car boot loads of old flags. We are still looking for other ideas of what we can do with all the fabric," she said.
The Fix It Sisters Women's Shed was the brainchild of friends and mothers, Linda Prince and Lynn Kristensen.
Believed to be Sydney's first Women's Shed, the Fix It Sisters teach women to know their way around a fully-equipped workshop with the aim of empowering them in the process.
There's more than 40 Women's Sheds in Australia which focus on cooking or knitting but not many have a fully-equipped work shed.
The Fix It Sisters members are both working and retired women ranging in age from 45 to 75.
They build bird boxes and natural beehives for Bayside Council, and burrows for penguins and white-faced storm petrels for the National Parks and Wildlife Service, do community work and teach people to make their own street libraries.
The Fix It Sisters always have many projects on the go at their workshop in the former Kyeemagh RSL Clubhouse.
In 2022 they built 30 penguin burrows for Eurobodalla Council on the NSW south coast in time for the start of the little penguin breeding season.
Last year they built floating nesting grounds or islands for swans and turtles which were installed in ponds at Sir Joseph Banks Reserve at Botany in partnership with WIRES and Western Sydney University.
