These are my favorite eco-friendly craft books from 2023!
Crafting is one of my Special Interests, so I like to read all the new craft books that are published every year. Every year, as well, along with all the sewing, decorating, seasonal, and other craft books on the market, I’m especially interested in reading all the new eco-friendly craft books.
And this year there were so many good ones! The list, below, of my favorites includes not only deliberately eco-friendly crafts, like botanical dyes and crafts made from recycled or repurposed materials, but also crafts that are naturally eco-friendly, like visible mending, or crafts that naturally rely on eco-friendly materials, like sewing and quilting with cotton fabrics.
The start of a new year is a great time to learn a new craft or increase your skill level with a favorite old craft, so check out my favorites list and knock an item off of both your 2024 Reading Goal AND your 2024 Crafting Goal!
Knotting Natural Bags and Belts, by Stacy Summer Malimban
Macrame is a terrific alternative to knitting and crochet for the fiber artist, and a terrific alterative to sewing for non-sewists. Knotting Natural Bags and Belts is tightly focused on just those two products, which allows you to go from beginner to expert over the course of the book and to feel like you have the selection and variety to make exactly the bag, or exactly the belt, that you want. Malimban’s equally tight focus on natural materials–cotton and jute–keeps you focused on green crafting. No polyester paracord here!
Cute Dogs to Needle Felt, by Gai Button
If you craft with animal products, needle felting is VERY eco-friendly! Using primarily wool roving, Button teaches you how to make projects that are far beyond what you might normally think that you’re capable of as a novice needle felter. If you’re not a novice, you’ll still learn new construction techniques and increase your level of artistry and your skill at creating these soft sculptures. The book covers six types of needle-felted dogs. After that, you’ve got the base knowledge to tackle whatever else you’re dreaming of!
Dried Flower Love, by Ivana Jost
Dried flowers are a surprisingly versatile craft supply, especially if you gather and dry them yourself. In Dried Flower Love, author Ivana Jost shows you how to select and dry your favorites, and then utilize them in projects you’ve probably never before considered. You’ve seen dried flowers in vases and on wreaths, sure, but how about in your hair? Or combined with concrete?
How to Sew Clothes, by Amelia Greenhall and Amy Bornman
DIY clothing construction is one of the most eco-friendly crafts you can create. Whether you’re avoiding fast-fashion altogether by sewing heirloom-quality basics or remaking garments for your own on-trend looks, sewing clothes is a great way to avoid consumer culture and keep unnecessary items out of the waste-stream. Bornman and Greenhall start from the very beginning here, so don’t be afraid if you don’t yet know which end of the needle to sew with. But even advanced sewists have more to learn, and I was super happy with the included pattern pieces. This is the year that I learn how to make myself a jacket!
Maker. Garden, by Kerry Allen
I like gardening, but crafting is my real love, and my favorite thing to do in my garden… is craft things for it! I enjoyed the combination of projects in Maker. Garden, with projects both specifically for gardening, like the living herb wall or the tile planter, and projects more for simply enjoying one’s outdoor spaces, like the pallet wood seating and the star lantern. I was surprised to see how utilizing pallets makes that outdoor bench a LOT easier to construct than if it was completely from scratch, and with outdoor usage, you don’t have to worry nearly as much about where that pallet has been and what weird chemicals it might have been treated with.
Botanical Dyes, by Babs Behan
You can find info about natural dyeing in lots of place, but if you want a VERY thorough grounding, this is the tome for you! I especially like that Behan includes info both about foraging AND about sustainable outsourcing to support those who don’t have ready access to these plants. Natural dyeing is extremely process-oriented, so the explicit recipes and many photos are super helpful, but so are the ideas, options, and general encouragement to experiment.
Capture Your Own Life with Collage Quilting, by Jane Haworth
This is one of those craft books that, while it isn’t specifically eco-friendly, is naturally so. Collage quilting is a multi-media project, so you’ll find that you can use up lots of bits and bobs of stash and scraps. And if you remember how I feel about fusible interfacing (I hate it!), you won’t be surprised to learn that my favorite thing about Haworth’s tutorials is that they do NOT rely on fusible interfacing! Instead, your primary technique will be sewing, which will make these projects as soft and comfortable as they are beautiful.
Did you have a favorite eco-friendly crafting book of 2023 that I missed? Tell us about it in the Comments!
