Green Options

Oh dear, I love my recycled T-shirt crafts! And, it appears, so do many of my fellow bloggers. In our defense, T-shirts have a world of things going on for them in terms of crafting: they’re pre-washed (and wash well), they’re readily available and affordable at pretty much any thrift shop, and they add huge graphic impact, as well as personality, to one’s work.

T-shirts have another benefit when one is crafting specifically for babies: oh, my, they’re so super-soft! They’re also light, and the seams that you create aren’t itchy. In other words–perfect!

Here are some perfect T-shirt crafts to create for babies:

The beginning of the year slump is almost over, and that means craft show season will be creeping up on us before we know it! What’s a green crafter to do about a display? Over the next few weeks, we’re going to look at a few eco-friendly display solutions for different setup needs.

[Tent at the Renegade Craft Fair. Creative Commons photo by LaCabeza Grande]

It’s still probably a bit cold for outdoor shows, but it’s not too cold to get planning! Some of the outdoor show needs are similar to the setups for indoor shows. You still need tables or some other surface to showcase your goodies, linens, and some horizontal display solutions. Outdoor festivals tend to have bigger spaces - usually, 10 feet X 10 feet - and you’ll probably have a tent. Here are some ideas for handling an outdoor setup!

After you’ve followed my felted wool tutorial, you will find yourself left with–what else? Felted wool!

What to do, what to do?

The best thing is that there are loads of cool projects designed for felted wool, and its versatility means that there are just as many projects for beginners as there are for the most advanced crafters.

What to do with felted wool?

Well, here are five things to start with:

Wherever you might normally stand on the felt controversy, I think that we can all get behind the claim that felted wool?

Is awesome.

Felted wool has all the benefits of wool for crafting–it’s sturdy, can be shaped, holds a dimensional structure well, is durable, and has an appealing texture–and has the eco-friendly attributes of being natural and second-hand. As part of my green crafting manifesto, I do not buy new things, nor do I intentionally buy products exploitative of the world’s creatures (please, don’t ask me about glue!), and yet when I buy a wool sweater from the Goodwill Outlet Store, I don’t have to worry about whether or not the wool has an organic certification, or about the high price of organic wool. I just think, “Yay, recycling!”

And yet, the wool sweater you take home from the thrift store requires some work before it becomes that versatile wool felt. Here’s exactly the work you need to do:

I don’t yet keep my craft room as green and organized as Lenore does, but it is one of my New Year’s resolutions to decorate my house more nicely (along with learning to sprout seeds, exercising every day, and getting a book contract), and it is part of our family ethic that anything we do must be done as green and thriftily as possible (per my green crafting manifesto), so Lenore and I are going to be craft room buddies pretty soon, I think.

I work almost entirely with found and recycled materials, so one of my biggest problems is the storage of…stuff. Old postage stamps, orphaned game pieces, costume jewelry, wrapping paper, comic books, beach rocks, buttons, and tinsel–you name it, and it finds its way into my work, and if I can’t see it and access it, I can’t use it.

Yeah, I’m tempted every time I wander into some big-box store, 40%-off coupon in hand, by all those clear, organized, neatly-portioned craft bins they always sell. Look, a different compartment for each kind of bead, and I can see them all! Look, slide-out drawers for each different kind of paper!

But I also want my craft room to have character, to not only contain the things that inspire me, but also, itself, BE an inspiration to me. So I have not bought those clear, organized, handy-yet-bland plastic bins. Instead, I try to find vintage, thrifted, or otherwise recycled containers for all my storage needs. Here’s part of my collection of vintage containers:

The beginning of the year slump is almost over, and that means craft show season will be creeping up on us before we know it! What’s a green crafter to do about a display? Over the next few weeks, we’re going to look at a few eco-friendly display solutions for different setup needs.

It’s so tempting to hit up local big box stores for new display pieces. I’ll admit that it’s even easier sometimes. But where’s the fun in that? Getting your goodies second hand helps you present your wares in a unique, Earth-friendly way! The setup you go for really depends on what sort of show you’re doing. Indoor vendor spaces are often smaller than at outdoor shows. Unless your table is at the end of a row, you probably won’t have much natural vertical space, like you would with a tent. So what are some green ways to showcase your goodies?

The fourth Carnival of Green Crafts is now posted at Smidge, and Kat has done a bang-up job of collecting some green crafty links for all of us to enjoy.  Thanks Kat!

If you haven’t yet submitted something to the carnival, please send in a post for our next edition! We’d love to get your thoughts about green crafting, upcycling, thrifting and crafting, and more.

Want to host a carnival?  Let us know!  Details about submitting and hosting are on the Carnival of Green Crafts home page.

New to the Carnival of Green Crafts or blog carnivals in general?  Missed previous carnivals?  Here’s the 411:

The second Carnival of Green Crafts is now posted at BlogHer.  Crafts and DIY editor Deb Roby has done a fabulous job, so head on over and check out what she’s whipped up. I think the haiku is my favorite.

We have been so pleased that so many green crafters and craft aficionados out there have sent in posts, commented, and visited the carnivals thus far.  For those [...]

Welcome to the first Carnival of Green Crafts!

For more information about the Carnival, please see the Carnival of Green Crafts home page here at Crafting A Green World.

We’re pleased as punch to announce that the next Carnival will be August 9th at BlogHer, courtesy of Hobbies, Crafts & DIY Contributing Editor Debra Roby. Send in your posts via the carnival submission form today!

Thanks so much to all the crafters who shared their posts with us for this Carnival.  Let’s dig in!

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.

A couple of months ago, I bought a super-cute twin size sheet at Goodwill. Originally from Target, and probably sold in a package very much like the one pictured here, my sheet has spirograph-esque designs in mauve, persimmon, and lime on a white background. It was $5 with its matching pillowcase. I thought that was a bit high, but I had fallen in love with it, so it came home with me.

Problem #1: Nothing in my house is mauve, persimmon, or lime.

Problem #2: I don’t have a twin size bed.

So what do I do with this sheet?

Granted, sheets are just really big pieces of fabric, so there are plenty of options. But this sheet is so cute, I want to use it for something special.