Green Options

Via Kim at fabric junkie blog True Up comes the funky designs of Umbrella Prints.

Yes, more Aussies.

At this point, I am pricing a move to Australia because it’s obvious they get all the good fabric and it’s just more efficient if I live closer to it.  If you’re reading this and you’re a fabric designer in the U.S. who prints on organic cotton or hemp [...]

Welcome to the seventh Carnival of Green Crafts!

This one had an extra day to percolate while I was on my way home from Colorado, the state where my environmental consciousness was born when I was in high school.

And though that means the Carnival is a day late, is by no means a dollar short.  So sit back and enjoy this collection of green and crafty goodness.

Before we begin, a few administrative notes: The eighth Carnival will be hosted at Things We Make, which is part of the Hallmark Magazine website! Send in your posts via the carnival submission form. The Carnival of Green Crafts home page has background info.

Now on to the carnival!

Plover Organic is primarily a bedding company, but they sell some of their fabrics by the yard.  Are they green, you ask?  Well, just check out their credentials:

All organic fibers used by Plover are certified according to the standards of the Organic Trade Association (OTA) in the United States, and by those of IFOAM and SKAL internationally.

Plover’s method of dyeing conforms fully to the American Organic Fiber Processing Standards (AOFPS) recognized by the OTA, as well as the Oeko-Tex 100 Standard and that of the Environmental Technology Advancement Directorate (ETAD) recognized in Europe.

Plover Organic’s linens are certified by Oeko-Tex and by GOTS.

Though no certification is mentioned for fair trade, they also support and say they practice fair trade principles.

The seventh Carnival of Green Crafts is Thursday here at Crafting A Green World. If you’re going to submit a post, why not do it today?  We’d love to have you!

Details here, or submit a post through the submission form.
Previous editions of the Carnival of Green Crafts:

First Carnival of Green Crafts
Second Carnival of Green Crafts at BlogHer
Third Carnival of Green Crafts: [...]

So I’ve been doing the Fabulous Fabrics series for a while, and I’ve been noticing something.

HarmonyArt Organic Design, Amenity, Oliveira Textiles, Mod Green Pod, Rubie Green, Kirin & Co, Thea and Sami - all of the designers behind these wonderful fabrics are women. (Right?  Someone correct me if I’m wrong.)

Michael Miller Organics stands out as the lone male name with an organic fabric line.

Can someone educate me a little here?  Is it typical that most mainstream fabric is designed by women?  I don’t know enough about the industry, honestly. I know that in quilting, men like Kaffe Fassett, Michael James, and Ricky Tims stand out not just because they’re good at what they do, but because they’re guys in an industry dominated by women. (Side note: am I the only person who really, really wants to pronouce Kaffe Fassett’s name as “coffee faucet?”) 

GreenFibres is a UK based online “eco goods and garments” shop which sells a number of hemp, linen, silk, and organic cotton fabrics by the yard.  Their cottons and linens are certified organic, and two of their fabrics are certified fair trade - others “are made under fair and safe working conditions.”  The fabrics they offer are the usual natural, unbleached fabrics with a couple of colorgrown patterns thrown in.

They offer two items that really caught my attention, though, because I hadn’t seen them anywhere else: organic cotton gauze, and organic cotton / nettle blend fabric.

The first is organic cotton gauze, a.k.a. netting.  They say that it’s great for gardening, with an almost throwaway comment that it’s “great as a craft material or dressing up prop!” Indeed, I’ve always associated gauze with doctoring more than with sewing, but since they’re selling it in the fabric section instead of bath and body, I thought I’d figure out what crafters could use it for.

The fourth Carnival of Green Crafts is now posted at Smidge, and Kat has done a bang-up job of collecting some green crafty links for all of us to enjoy.  Thanks Kat!

If you haven’t yet submitted something to the carnival, please send in a post for our next edition! We’d love to get your thoughts about green crafting, upcycling, thrifting and crafting, and more.

Want to host a carnival?  Let us know!  Details about submitting and hosting are on the Carnival of Green Crafts home page.

New to the Carnival of Green Crafts or blog carnivals in general?  Missed previous carnivals?  Here’s the 411:

As sustainable fabrics go, bamboo certainly has buzz on its side.  I’ll admit to having fallen under its spell, though I ended up fairly unhappy with the durability of the socks and sheets I purchased while trying to avoid non-organic cotton.

Living here in Austin, I can attest that under the right conditions, bamboo doesn’t need the care (read: water) that even organic cotton does in order to thrive.  There are yards all over the city where bamboo planted as a privacy screen has busted out all over.  It’s like kudzu, only taller.

So the idea of using bamboo for fabric is extremely appealing.  Plant it, ignore it, harvest it, fabricize it. It’s that last part that’s a problem.  How exactly is thick, reedy bamboo turned into soft, fuzzy fabric anyway?

The sixth Carnival of Green Crafts is Thursday at Smidge. If you’re going to submit a post, why not do it today? If you’re not, why not?  We’d love to have you!

Details here, or submit a post through the submission form.
Previous editions of the Carnival of Green Crafts:

First Carnival of Green Crafts
Second Carnival of Green Crafts at BlogHer
Third [...]

When Great Green Goods mentioned Bedrock Industries and their recycled glass robot people on Monday, I knew I should pop over and check it out.  Why?  Well, I love robots.  Who doesn’t?  But what actually caught my eye was this part of the Great Green Goods post: “They have a large selection of tile and tumbled glass for use in your home or garden.”

My friends, this is no lie!  The good people at Bedrock have tumbled glass for all kinds of crafty and gardeny adventures.

I love the colors available in their mosaic glass, and mosaic is a craft I’ve always wanted to try.  Their glass is 100% pre-consumer recycled glass, taken from the waste generated during the production of stained glass.