Sustainability Resources

This content was first compiled by Noelle Remington and Elizabeth Burstad-Morgan as part of a presentation titled "creative Sustainability" during the August 2021 SeattleMQG Meeting.  Additional resources have been added based on member suggestions. 

Videos, blog posts, articles, and websites

Create and Sustain
https://createandsustain.org/ A nonprofit organization dedicated to education public about creative and sustainable quilting, sewing, and crafts via workshops, demonstrations, discussion groups, lectures, exhibits, special programs and the distribution of creative and sustainable information through written media and the Internet.

Clothing and Textile Manufacturing’s Environmental Impact and How to Shop More Ethically
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2018-04-03/fashion-environmental-impact-of-your-favourite-textiles/9382382?nw=
Informative report on the environmental impact of all types of fabric and the differences.

Estimating the Carbon Footprint of a Fabric
https://oecotextiles.blog/2011/01/19/estimating-the-carbon-footprint-of-a-fabric/
Informative article about the carbon footprint of fabrics, including the difference between conventional and organic fabric production.

Where Our Fabrics Are Made
https://www.stitchedincolor.com/blog/2017/11/1/where-our-fabrics-are-made
Blog post from 2017 by Rachel Hauser of Stitched in Color on where quilting cottons are made, the best certifications, environmental impact, etc. She did quite a bit of research.

Sustainable Sewing – Part 1: Repurposing
https://youtu.be/wqL7YbgtQrA
Roundtable discussion on YouTube with Sherri Lynn Wood, Luke Haynes, Heidi Parkes, and Zak Foster.

Why Quilters Should Ditch Stash Culture
https://www.stringandstory.com/blog/ditchstashculture 
Interesting blog post by HollyAnne Knight of String&Story about the negative impacts of “stash culture” on quilters, quilt shops, and the environment, including her recipe for a positive change.

How to Destash Your Quilting Fabric
https://www.stringandstory.com/blog/howtodestash
Another one from HollyAnne about how to sort and pass on what you don’t love. A great read to prepare for our quilt swap!

What Do I Mean by Zero Waste Quilting?
https://www.tangibleculturellc.com/2019/11/zero-waste-quilting.html
Lots of ideas in this blog post by Janice F. of Tangible Culture LLC on how to make use of every piece of fabric.

Creative Sustainability Videos from Botanical Colors
https://botanicalcolors.com/category/blog/videos/
Botanical Colors, a Seattle natural dye house and retailer, has a series of Friday morning Zoom presentations focusing on sustainable practices in the industry and related arts. All 60-something are available on demand from their website.

A Field Guide to Sustainable Cotton
https://www.sustainablestitching.com/2020/09/28/cotton-field-guide/
A primer to the world of sustainable cotton by Amy Harrell at Sustainable Stitching.

Certifications & Sustainable Vendors

We highlighted two certifications in our talk – OEKO-TEX and GOTS. Their websites have tons of useful information. Please also see Create and Sustain’s roundup of all the certifications out there.

Art Gallery Fabrics and Robert Kaufman’s Kona Cotton line are certified by OEKO-TEX. They both state that on their websites. A 2017 article (see Where Our Fabrics are Made above) found that both companies used GOTS-certified mill which maintain excellent standards. If you can’t find this information on a company’s website, call them. Better yet, ask your local quilt shop to stock OEKO-TEX and GOTS certified fabrics.

• OEKO-TEX Website - https://www.oeko-tex.com/en/
• GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) Website - https://global-standard.org/
• Create & Sustain’s Web Page of Certifications - https://createandsustain.org/education/
• Art Gallery Fabrics https://liveartgalleryfabrics.com/
• Kona Cottons https://www.robertkaufman.com/fabrics/kona_cotton/

Places to Donate (and/or Find Fabric and Scraps)

Seattle Recreative
http://www.seattlerecreative.org
Seattle Recreative is a creative reuse store and a community art center. They collect donations of used materials that would otherwise end up in a landfill from local business and individuals. Proceeds from the resale of these goods helps fund their arts programming and supply creative materials and workshops to the community.

Feel Good Fibers
https://feelgoodfibers.com/our-story/
FeelGood Fibers is an online marketplace for the sale of secondhand fabrics. Family run Feel Good Fibers was created to make it easy for sewists around the world to buy and sell pre-loved fabric. They believe having a bigger destash community is a win for us all, and that “all” also includes our planet. That’s because shopping and sewing with pre-loved fabrics is an easy and effective way to be an eco-conscious sewist.

Ridwell
https://www.ridwell.com/
An innovative company that comes to your door every two weeks to take away your recycling and finds new uses for it. They not only take fabric scraps, but plastic bags, light bulbs, clothing, and batteries, to name just a few!

Fab Scrap
https://fabscrap.org/
Based in Brooklyn, Fab Scrap takes surplus from the textile industry and sells it online and at their warehouse. It’s amazing!

Buy Nothing
https://buynothingproject.org/about/
Donate and/or acquire fabric (and everything else!) by participating in the Buy Nothing gift economy. Everything finds a happy home!

Days for Girls
https://www.daysforgirls.org/
International organization that creates cost-effective, safe, and sustainable period pads and kits for women and girls around the world so they can manage their periods and participate in school and work. Will take yardage fat quarter or larger. No animals, faces/eyes, or words/text please.

Threadcycle
https://kingcounty.gov/depts/dnrp/solid-waste/programs/ecoconsumer/threadcycle.aspx
Threadcycle is a public education campaign of King County and Seattle Public Utilities. Threadcycle connects people who are donating used textiles with recycling organizations in order to keep them out of the landfill. Damaged and stained clothing are accepted. Visit their website for information on acceptable items and where to donate.