Fabulous Fabrics: Organic Linen from Thea and Sami (Australia)

Thea and Sami is based in Brisbane, Australia, creating fashions and accessories out of natural materials and earth-friendly inks.  They have begun adding some certified organic fabrics to their collection, including this handprinted “Iron Flowers” design in turquoise on white or grey on black on organic linen. The fabric is 142 cm wide (56″) and costs $A38.50 per metre.

Their other organic fabrics are black, white, and flax colored organic linen and a natural color cotton jersey.  For us non-Australians, international shipping is a flat rate of $A10.00.  Swatches are available if you need to check them out before ordering in quantity.

I found out about the Iron Flowers fabric from my co-conspirator… err, co-contributor Leslie here at CAGW.  In turn, Leslie had found it from Miss M of a natural thread. At the time Miss M blogged about the fabric, there was another colorway available: hot pink on white.  Sadly, it seems that colorway has sold out.

It got me wondering about the future of fabrics.  My usual fabric-buying process for a quilt is to head to my local independent quilt shop, since I’m lucky enough to have one.  I actually haven’t been there since I started writing the Fabulous Fabrics series, since I really have to finish my UFOs before I start up anything new.  But I’m quite used to one stop shopping for fabric at a large retail establishment that has everything I need.

As we’re greening the craft world, though, what if our expectations changed?  What if we expected to collect fabric for a project over time, instead of buying it all in one fell swoop?  What if we expected to do the majority of our buying from folks who offer only a few fabrics at a time, based on what they need to do their own work – in Thea and Sami’s case, making clothing and accessories – instead of expecting hundreds of fabrics to be available at our fingertips every day?

Not that I would reject a large green fabric store with hundreds of fabrics, mind you!

Back to Thea and Sami.  Their line of clothing has been selected to take part in an “emerging talent competition” called Debut at Australia’s Fashion Exposed trade fair in September.  We’re rooting for them all the way! If that weren’t enough to keep her busy, designer Thea Samios is also a columnist for a local women’s networking group called Babes In Business.  So far she’s written about chemical poisoning from conventional fabric, green tourism, and the meaning of the term “organic” as it relates to agriculture and fashion.  There are links to her columns on the Thea and Sami website.

[Images from Thea and Sami.]

More Organic and Sustainable Fabrics:

• Gossypium Organic Cotton (UK)
• Wildrose Farm Organics (US)
• Kirin & Co (Australia)
• Tenfold Organic Textiles (US)