A night of living on the street helped motivate recovering addict Felix Middleton to help out some fellow New Yorkers by using his fashion skills to make sleeping bags for the homeless, the New York Times reported Dec. 3.

Middleton, a Fashion Institute of Technology graduate who is receiving addiction treatment at Phoenix House, worked with the rehabilitation program to get a sewing machine and stitch old comforters into 30 sleeping bags, which he recently handed out to homeless people on the streets.

Meeting a homeless woman outside a White Castle restaurant in Brooklyn also moved Middleton to dust off his sewing skills and put them to good use -- not just for other people but to aid his own recovery. "She inspired me to just go and take those things out of the box and make them into sleeping bags," Middleton said. "Whatever I do in my life, if I make a success out of my career, I am always going to include homeless people as a part of my career."

Each bag takes about 15 minutes to sew together. Middleton plans to continue to collect old blankets and comforters that he can fashion into sleeping bags. He's calling the initiative "Project Wear."

“The one I had was nice and thick and warm,” said sleeping-bag recipient Stewart D. “Well made, too.”