Green Options

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.

New York City’s Cooper Hewitt is highlighting their Fashioning Felt exhibit in a big way. My mind is now filled with ideas about the possibilities of felt. 

 ”Fashioning Felt presents an extraordinary range of felt. From two-dimensional carpets to three-dimensional environments, each work reveals the virtuosity of both the material and the designers. The exhibition and book focus on felt that has been produced by traditional hand- or machine-felting processes; they exclude non-woven felt and techniques, in order to underscore the essential elements of feltmaking — wool fiber, agitation, moisture, and pressure.”

I fell for this Felt Ovoid Jacket and Empire Pant look. Isn’t this draped felt suit creative? 

Keep reading for more inspiration:

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.

Digital textile printing now available on organic cotton from Spoonflower!

I sprang to my feet when I saw the message in my e-mail from Spoonflower this morning.  After much urging by eco icons including Betz White, Harmony Susalla and customers, they now offer digital textile printing on organic cotton!  The new 4.5 oz organic cotton sateen is certified organic by GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard).  It has a 58-inch [...]

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.

I think it is important to support new indie designers and made in USA products.  On that note, I love these new fabrics by Swanky Swell.  I am currently gazing at my new sample pack and dreaming up all the wonderful things I can make with this beautiful fabric.

There is this great husband and wife team in Australia that has blossomed into Red Seed Studios.  He designs, they print, and beautiful eco-friendly fabric panels and housewares are made.  Sam Messina and Ellie Beck are the creators of Red Seed Studio which showcases a range of hand screen-printed eco-friendly textiles.  I owe this find to the wonderful ladies of Ink & Spindle who met Ellie and Sam at the Stitches and Craft Show.

I am cheap. Cheap, cheap, cheap. Oh, and also eco-friendly, but mainly just cheap.

My favorite thing about the D.I.Y. lifestyle is that it’s also a thrifty lifestyle. It’s inspiring to take an unwanted, perhaps even damaged material something that someone else might discard or donate, and turn it into something that’s beautiful and useful again.

Take those sweet, knitted or crocheted afghans that I’m always coming across in thrift stores or dumpster-diving, or that often get re-gifted to me because I like handmade stuff.

I respect the love and time that goes into the act of knitting and crocheting, and the dedication, especially, that it takes to create an entire afghan, but frankly, I have enough of my own already, and I don’t necessarily need another one, especially if it’s just so-so or (gasp!) ugly.

An entire afghan, though? That’s a nice, large swatch of material to work with. I’ve been sewing up a storm with my thrifted and re-gifted afghan stash, lately, making some simple summer dresses for my little girls. Here are some tips so that you, too, can sew with knitted or crocheted materials–it’s not as tricky as it seems:

I fell in love with these eco-friendly fabrics by Jenny Lee-Katz the moment I saw them (thanks Design*Sponge).  With nearly 50 designs to choose from each available on three eco-friendly base cloths, I am sure you can understand my excitement.  The designs feature vibrant colors and a contemporary seaside vibe.

What do you get when a musician and a textile company get together? It looks like what you get is a plan to bring recycled fabric into the mainstream!

Music producer, singer-songwriter, and rapper Pharrell Williams is teaming up with the New York-based textile firm Bionic Yarn to work on a new fabric made from recycled plastic. Williams started out as a hip hop artist, writing lyrics for folks like Wreckx-N-Effects and going on to produce albums and release his own music. He’s had his own fashion lines before, co-founding Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream Footwear. Now, he’s planning to make upcycled fabric a viable option for clothing makers!