Green Options

As the weather gets to be an almost unbearable 90 degrees in lovely Southern California, it’s time to hit the beach and take to the waves for a little cool down. This year, my beach bag will be stuffed with the very chic, generously oversized blanQuettes by Yumi & Laurie. The stylish and lightweight blankets are more than big enough for two people to sunbathe or four to sit comfortably and picnic outdoors.

In Kelly’s recent post Tools To Use: Batting, she outlined several organic and sustainable choices for quilt batting - including my favorite, Hobbs Heirloom Organic Cotton Batting. Kelly was curious, though, about re-using old blankets or sheets instead.

Being creative with your quilt ingredients is part of the history of quilting. Now granted, many of the choices that early quilters made were due to economic constraints. I suspect that if the pioneers had sewing machines and fabric shops readily and affordably available, a lot of them would have taken advantage of those options. However, quilting does have a historical ethic of conservation and re-use. Quilters today manifest this ethic through the obsessive saving of fabric scraps too small for any reasonable project, “just in case.”

So if you’re willing to look past batting, there are other earth-friendly alternatives for your quilt’s insides. Your linen closet, thrift stores, or donations from other people’s sewing supplies may provide just what you need.

Daffodils in the garden, people eating their lunch in the park and the odd overly optimistic choice of clothing can only mean one thing. Spring has sprung! So when I saw this image I thought it could be a great way for our old winter woollies to spend the rest of their days.

If your jumper drawer is anything like mine it will be crammed full of unwearable sweaters, some have shrunk in the wash others are a bit baggy and many just don’t go with anything else. So perhaps making your own version of this luxurious ’sweater blanket’ could be the answer.

This isn’t just a great way to recycling old jumpers, Opos who designed and manufacture this blanket are also making a statement about waste in the garment industry.