Archive for the ‘Fabrics’ Category

Stuff It with Nature-Fil Bamboo and Corn Batting and Fiberfills

Fairfield, the makes of Poly-fil have gone green adding a whole new line of eco-friendly products to help green your fiber arts and crafts.

You can now quilt green, stuffyour little critters in an eco-friendly way and have bamboo pillows.

Nature-Fil batting, fiberfill and pillow forms now come in bamboo options and natural fiberfill is made out of both bamboo and PLA corn materials. Read the rest of this entry »

Marshal the Power of the Sun: Restore Vintage Fabrics on a Clothesline

SunA clothesline in a shady spot can air dry your laundry without the expense of energy resources, keep your clothes in better condition without subjecting them to the wear and tear of a clothes dryer cycle, and return them to you smelling fresh and sweet without the chemicals contained in a dryer sheet.

A clothesline in a sunny spot can do all that and bleach out soil and stains, to boot, again without the worry of harsh chemicals.

This factor, combined with a very gentle handwashing and some pre-treatments, can restore even very stained and very valuable vintage fabrics. It can also get your kids’ grape juice stains out of your beloved childhood Snoopy sheet set. Here’s how: Read the rest of this entry »

Crafting with Cream City Ribbon

Here’s a way to tie a pretty bow or add a little something extra to your project while being eco-friendly.

Cream City Ribbon has a nice selection of biodegradable cotton ribbons made from cotton grown and processed in the US. The ribbon is made without using chlorine bleach and uses water based soy dyes making the ribbon very, very eco.

Even the packaging and ribbon spools are made from biodegradable materials.

Read the rest of this entry »

Creating Adorable Baby Bums: Cloth Diapers

If you sew your own (or others) cloth diapers, does that make you a crafter or an eco-conscious Mama?  Of course, it makes you both.

Here are directions to make super cute diapers out of t-shirts.  How’s that for a reclaiming project?  The best part is you can put the fun saying or cute part of the shirt right onto babies bum!

Need some liners for inside the diapers, here’s a tutorial for that.

How about making your own felted wool covers out of second hand sweaters?

Need to know where to find diaper making fabrics and kits, here’s a link.  (Stay with us after the jump to find out more about the adorable diaper in the photo.) Read the rest of this entry »

Find Your Local Independent Quilt Shops

Did you know that 95 percent of fabric shoppers make their purchases at chain stores?
That’s where Project 95 comes into the picture. One goal of Project 95 is to unite fabric shoppers with local independent quilt and fabric shops.  

Project 95 is brought to you by The Fabric Shop Network, Inc, the trade association for independent quilt and fabric retailers.  They have recently launched a beta version of a searchable map to help you find independents in your area.  I plugged in my zip code and was delighted to see this densely packed map fraught with new (at least new-to-me) shops to check out in my area. Read the rest of this entry »

Fab Fabrics: LIVE Textiles

Live Textiles Room ViewI cannot believe we haven’t covered LIVE Textiles yet in our Fab Fabric series. I found them a while ago, but my interest was reignited when I saw some of their new prints for sale at Near Sea Naturals. Read the rest of this entry »

Fab Fabrics: Naturally Modern

There is a newly stocked eco fabric shop on Etsy called Naturally Modern.  Specializing in eco friendly, hand printed fabrics, Naturally Modern carries a variety of limited edition and out of print fabrics.  The selection includes prints from the original Mod Green Pod collection, from Lara Cameron formerly of Kirin & Co. (now Ink & Spindle), and Tenfold Organics. Read the rest of this entry »

Fab Fabrics: Sukie Organic Cotton by the Meter

Sukie FabricSukie Fabric
We are seeing lots of new organic cotton prints lately, like the Urbana Collection by Daisy Janie and the upcoming My Happy Garden collection by Cloud 9. Now there are a few more organic cotton prints available from Sukie, a UK-based design company. Read the rest of this entry »

Fashioning Felt Exhibit Now in New York City at the Cooper Hewitt

New York City’s Cooper Hewitt is highlighting their Fashioning Felt exhibit in a big way. My mind is now filled with ideas about the possibilities of felt

 ”Fashioning Felt presents an extraordinary range of felt. From two-dimensional carpets to three-dimensional environments, each work reveals the virtuosity of both the material and the designers. The exhibition and book focus on felt that has been produced by traditional hand- or machine-felting processes; they exclude non-woven felt and techniques, in order to underscore the essential elements of feltmaking — wool fiber, agitation, moisture, and pressure.”

I fell for this Felt Ovoid Jacket and Empire Pant look. Isn’t this draped felt suit creative? 

Keep reading for more inspiration: Read the rest of this entry »

Treehugger’s Eco Fabric Roundup

Knoll Abacus Textiles
We love to feature fabulous eco friendly fabrics here on Crafting A Green World. We often focus on hand printed fabrics by indie designers, but recently Treehugger reminded us large fabric manufacturers are going green too, and in some pretty high tech ways. Read the rest of this entry »