Green Options

Filled up with quilt envy after admiring all those gorgeous denim quilts? Sewing your own is not only green, but also easy and inexpensive!

You will need: several old pairs of blue jeans (the exact number depends on the size of quilt you’ll be sewing); cardboard for a cutting template, a marking pen, a sewing machine with a jeans needle inserted, matching thread. To follow along in later posts with backing and tying your quilt, have handy a thrifted yet terrific blanket and embroidery floss or yarn in coordinating colors.

We’ll sew the quilt top today, and back it and tie it in a later post.

NRDC’s OnEarth site has an educational article out on blue jeans that states:

“Some 450 million pairs of jeans are sold in the United States each year — 1.5 pairs for every man, woman, and child. The average woman has eight pairs in her closet. Chances are that to make those jeans, cotton crops were drenched in pesticides; fibers were stained with toxic dyes… There is another option: the eco-minded can invest in a pair of jeans woven from organic cotton, dyed with natural indigo, and faded with nontoxic ozone.”

In the post they cover the truth about growing cotton, making denim, dying, hardware, distressing and fit. Here is a quick recap of the downside to wearing denim from the Natural Resources Defense Council:

I have never met a woman who loves shopping for jeans. Finding a pair of jeans that fits can involve endless shopping trips, trying on pair after pair in the unflattering light of dressing rooms. Even in low-rise styles, finding the right hip to waist ratio can be maddening. But if rips or patches don’t really fit into your personal style and your current jeans are falling apart, at some point you have to bite the bullet and shop.

Once you replace the well-worn pair of jeans, though, what’s next? Since I’m currently facing the demise of my favorite (and only) pair of jeans, I thought I would take a spin around the web and see what I could do with them.

First up is this recycled blue jean organizer, perfect for craft supplies.