Green Options

Who is king on stinging nettle fabric? Well, Brennels claims to be the only company in the Netherlands to grow stinging nettles on a large scale. Driving forces are sustainability, fabric and fashion.

What’s new is the digestion process to produce lighter and more delicate nettle fibers to spin into fine yarns. The company has around 70 hectares of agricultural farmland in the north of the country dedicated to production with three years of extensive research under their belt.

So you’ve decided to try babywearing — perhaps you’ve read the Babywearing 101 series, or Baby Essentials That Aren’t, here at Eco Child’s Play.  As a green-minded parent, you may now be wondering what options exist for slings and carriers made of organic and eco-friendly fabrics.

You might be pleasantly surprised.  From small-business WAHM handmade slings, to big-name brands, there is a wide selection of organic baby carriers out there to choose from.  Whatever style of carrier you prefer, organic options in natural colour-grown fabrics and vivid naturally-dyed colours abound.

Here is just a partial list, to help get your search started.

Even the most ardent environmentalists sometimes forget that color-infused fabrics are some of the biggest water users around, sucking up dozens of gallons of water for a single pound of clothing. In a resource-constrained world, that’s no longer acceptable. Colorep., a California sustainable technology company, is trying to make fabric dyeing a water-free prospect with its AirDye process, which uses air instead of water to assist dye in penetrating fiber in products like swimsuits, drapes, and t-shirts.

[Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by wowcool]

We love a good mix tape remix around here. Heck, some of us even knit with used cassettes. Seamstresses, don’t you fret! You can get in on the recycled cassette action, too…

Did you know that 95 percent of fabric shoppers make their purchases at chain stores?
That’s where Project 95 comes into the picture. One goal of Project 95 is to unite fabric shoppers with local independent quilt and fabric shops.  

Project 95 is brought to you by The Fabric Shop Network, Inc, the trade association for independent quilt and fabric retailers.  They have recently launched a beta version of a searchable map to help you find independents in your area.  I plugged in my zip code and was delighted to see this densely packed map fraught with new (at least new-to-me) shops to check out in my area.

I cannot believe we haven’t covered LIVE Textiles yet in our Fab Fabric series. I found them a while ago, but my interest was reignited when I saw some of their new prints for sale at Near Sea Naturals.

There is a newly stocked eco fabric shop on Etsy called Naturally Modern.  Specializing in eco friendly, hand printed fabrics, Naturally Modern carries a variety of limited edition and out of print fabrics.  The selection includes prints from the original Mod Green Pod collection, from Lara Cameron formerly of Kirin & Co. (now Ink & Spindle), and Tenfold Organics.

We are seeing lots of new organic cotton prints lately, like the Urbana Collection by Daisy Janie and the upcoming My Happy Garden collection by Cloud 9. Now there are a few more organic cotton prints available from Sukie, a UK-based design company.

We love to feature fabulous eco friendly fabrics here on Crafting A Green World. We often focus on hand printed fabrics by indie designers, but recently Treehugger reminded us large fabric manufacturers are going green too, and in some pretty high tech ways.

Wrapping paper, gift bags, and tissue paper can be beautiful, but are extremely wasteful.  One no waste option is the art of Furoshiki, the Japanese method of wrapping gifts with a beautifully folded piece of cloth.  Chewing The Cud is making Furoshiki easier and more beautiful.  The fabric gift wrap becomes a gift in and of itself.  

The popularity of on demand fabric printing continues to grow in the craft and design communities.  We have shared with you before a couple on demand printers like Spoonflower and Fabric On Demand.  Today I would like to introduce you to one of the newest on demand print services called Karma Kraft.  But Karma Kraft is way more than just a digital printer, they have taken the on demand service to a whole new level.

I originally discovered Karma Kraft through an ad on True Up and now they have a fabulous interview with Karma Kraft founder Susan Lu.  With a background in the textile industry and a passion for the craft and design communities, it was only natural for Susan to create Karma Kraft to advance the accessibility of on demand fabric printing.