KusiKuy specializes in warm alpaca yarn from Bolivia. All of their yarns are hand spun and made from the fibers of the alpaca which remote, nomadic communities tend. Their company is culturally sensitive and respects the culture and ceremony of the animals that these communities keep.

They sell a wide range of weights of the yarn, which is a strong, durable fiber, perfect for the Bolivian climate and indigenous to the area. It comes in over 25 different natural colors, perfect for accessories and socks. KusiKuy does not sell their yarn to yarn stores, and instead caters to the home crafter and small business crafter. Many socks and hats are created from their yarn.

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Like Amenity, Mod Green Pod, and Oliveira Textiles, the fun new fabrics from Rubie Green are high end decorator fabrics with a high end price tag: about $90 per yard.

But oh, the lovely!

Pictured above are Megan, Patsy, and Portobello.  Rubie Green’s full line of fabrics includes two stripes, a zigzag, a funky zebra stripe print, a kind of lattice looking print, and a floral.  The zebra stripe and the zigzag come in two colorways each, and Patsy also comes in green, for a total of 12 fabrics.

What makes these fabrics green?  Well, here’s the rundown from their website:

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Another example of the speed at which the green promotional products industry is changing is the second generation of the Organic Spa tote from the manufacturer Gemline.

Like many of the wonderful bags from this manufacturer, this tote is made from 100% certified organic cotton fabric and azo-free dyes.

However look at the front of the tote. This material originally was made of bamboo, it is now made from woven jute.

Why? We suspect a few reasons. Jute may be less expensive and it also makes for a more supple bag that is a bit lighter, easier to carry and easier to place embroidery or silk screening on.

The main point I want to make is that the time between Organic Spa Tote I and Organic Spa Tote II was less than 6 months. This normally would not happen with promotional items, but I have seen it in eco-friendly items again and again.

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Thea and Sami

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Leslie here at Crafting A Green World has talked to us about non-toxic dyeing using natural materials.  This collection is a larger scale equivalent of Leslie using her landlady’s plums to cook up some pretty fabric.

The collection is carried by Z&S Fabrics and Strawberry Patches, and the latter of which has some background information about the collection that is not found on Andover’s website. 

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Gossypium is an independent online shop based in the UK that makes clothing, bedding, and accessories that are fair trade and environmentally friendly. Their Ethical and Eco Practices page is a model for any textile business. Luckily for crafters, they also offer some of their fabrics by the yard.

Their organic cotton fabrics are fair trade certified, and printed using water based ink. They have two different kinds of fabric: a woven shirting weight fabric that’s 240 cm wide, and an interlock fabric sold in 160 cm width. The interlock is the prints, which are all kiddo friendly: bugs, farm, puppies, and the jungle print shown here. The woven fabrics are a denim stripe, three checks, and a natural, recommended for bedding, curtains, and clothing.

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Penguins aren’t all that Wildrose Farm Organics has to offer, though. They have a range of fabrics available in either blanket form or by the yard, since their primary business is making clothing and rugs from organic and sustainable textiles.

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i-merino is about three years old, but a recent discovery to many. It may be the most sustainable performance activewear fabric on the planet. i-merino is the brainchild of a fourth-generation merino wool grower and first-generation snow boarder, Australian cofounder Stuart Adams. As a devotee of numerous sport and physical activities, Stuart experienced first hand the superior performance characteristics and comfort of merino wool. Merino is a renewable resource where a new fleece grows on the sheep’s back every year. The wool is obtained without harm to the animal. From farm to fabric, the process is fully tracked and certified, so you are guaranteed the wool passes stringent environmental, social and quality controls.

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Tenfold Organic Textiles

Their fabric is a 200 thread count plain weave cotton, which they recommend for quilts, clothing, and bedding. Currently the only fabric colors available are solids: madder red, pom orange, myra yellow, kasam olive, ash pink, bark brown, soot black, and sun white.

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The company is also debuting their biodegradable wash powder that is hypoallergenic and fragrance free for the most sensitive of skin - perfect for washing your unmentionables. The lingerie wash is available at A Brief Affair for $8.50.

That’s great for people reading this blog and other green crafting blogs, but large scale change is going to require many, many crafters demanding organic and other earth-friendly products. If all the products are sequestered in little green boutiques, that’s going to be a slow process. What about the crafters who aren’t reading this blog? Do they know these products exist? Have any of these products gone mainstream? I went on a hunt through some of the biggest mainstream fabric shops’ websites to find out.

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EcoSpun felt is made from post-consumer recycled PET plastic bottles. It’s sold in a 72″ width for $5.99 a yard with a minimum order of one yard.

PET, in case you were wondering, is polyethylene terephthalate. PET is the plastic used to make #1 bottles.

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But what makes this company truly stand out is the packaging! See, when you purchase a Kee-Ka item it comes housed in this nifty little brown box crafted of recycled paper that is ready to be mailed in three simple steps. No digging for wrapping paper, no searching for tape, no “This looks like my kid wrapped it” thoughts. Nada.

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Luckily, one brand that is commonly found in said box stores is Lion Brand and even more luckier is that Lion Brand now has an organic cotton yarn. Hallelujah!

Lion Brand Organic Cotton is free from herbicides, pesticides and other agro-chemicals. It comes in four natural colors as no dyes are used to make the colors. Check out the light gray-green of Cypress or go darker with my favorite, Bark.

The yarn is soft, warm and easy to work with. Available in worsted weight, this organic cotton is a great environmental addition that has made its way into the mainstream. And while Vanna’s Choice might be cheaper, it’s good to know that there is another choice out there in the aisles of that big box store.

Image credit: Lion Brand

If anyone should be put in charge of the craft supply store of our collective dreams, I nominate these people. Surely we can convince them to expand from fabrics into notions and other supplies if we’re persistent.

Why am I such a fan, even though I haven’t ordered anything (yet)?

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Amenity’s fabric designs are based on nature, with names like “river” and “cove.” Don’t think about cute little leaf prints, though, except in their nursery collection. As you can see from the pillows above, made up in their “trail” fabric, we’re talking about some seriously bold and funky design.

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Welcome to Earth Day, crafters! Today, in honor of our one and only home, I’m taking a break from the Fabulous Fabrics series to address a serious dilemma.

If you’re like me, you have a decent sized fabric stash sitting around. In my case, it’s quilting cotton. Yards and yards and yards of it. If you’re like me, you also spend a lot of time thinking about how you can help avert ecological crisis. When the two collide, it can produce guilt about consumption of that much cotton - which uses a ton of water to produce - as well as dyes to make it pretty.

Don’t fret! While cotton is a thirsty crop, your stash can start to make up for its ecological footprint while it awaits that perfect project. Scientists here at Crafting A Green World Laboratories have been working diligently to evaluate all the possibilities and develop this list of the Top 5 ways your fabric stash can help save the earth. (We believe these tips are also applicable to other stash materials, such as yarn and possibly ribbon, but our research is still ongoing into these supplies.)

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So I thought it was high time to give this online eco-shop their own day in the sun in our Fabulous Fabrics series. Their collection of cotton, wool, and hemp fabrics, yarns and knitting needles, and notions is sure to warm the heart of any green crafter. Since there’s so much to see on their site, I thought I’d take a moment and highlight a couple of the new fabrics they just added.

The White Sands Safari Interlock, pictured above, is 100% cotton and whitened with peroxide instead of chlorine bleach.

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The Canadian media mavens at GreenLivingOnline.com have allowed me to share my interview with Heather and Wendy, which was first published on GLO a few weeks ago. Keep reading for all the juicy details about the past, present and future of Passenger Pigeon - and eco-fashion as a whole!

The label was previously named Calledyourbluff and was changed to Passenger Pigeon when the brand began using sustainable textiles. Why did the collection change to eco-fabrics? Do you find working with sustainable fibers to be more limiting when coming up with designs?

Wendy: Do we feel limited? Yes and no. In the past we’ve dyed fabric because it only came in beige, and the very reason we use prints so much is because much of the available fabric is quite basic. Working within these limitations means that we have to get pretty creative sometimes, but I think that’s where the charm of our line comes from.

There’s actually a good range of eco-friendly textiles, especially for more casual fabrics like knits and twill. The one thing that we would like to see more of is affordable organic wool and other heavier fabrics for winter. However, it seems every week we get new, exciting swatches from different suppliers. There seems to be a lot happening in the textile industry to develop beautiful, new, sustainable fabrics.

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