Green Quilting: Improving the Earth One Fiber at a Time

For many people, a “green quilt” is simply that—fabric and patchwork in shades of lime, grass, and hunter. For others, it is a quilted work that represents an artist’s love and concern for the earth and life in general. And still others would contend that a “green quilt” is one created from organic fabrics or recycled materials and other earthy-friendly products.

Regardless of how one interprets the term “green quilting,” it is a phrase with which quilters, fiber artists, and industry insiders are likely to become quite familiar in the coming years. As with any art form, quilting is often used to express a political or ideological view and an increasing number of quilters are using their work to spread awareness of environmental concerns.

Quilter and instructor, Susan Shie, founded the Green Quilts Project in 1989 with the purpose of “making art quilts with a message of hope and healing for the Earth.” With it, Shie set out to encourage the creation of quilts of any style, color, or size that demonstrate the artist’s passion and concern for the planet.

The project, which ran for more than 15 years, inspired a truly diverse collection of quilts, but the common denominator among these artworks is the “green” message they communicate. When asked why she felt that fiber arts are especially suited to send that message, Shie’s response is enlightening. “Fiber comes from the Earth,” she says, “so it was alive, and this is all about life. I think that quilting is a very personal art form, and the Earth is about as personal a subject as you can get. Without it, we don’t exist.”

Since the inception of the Green Quilts Project, society as a whole has become more cognizant of environmental concerns. “Unfortunately,” as Shie points out, “it’s largely because the Earth has become more and more abused.” Fortunately though, as public awareness of environmental issues has grown, so has the need for corporations to begin exploring cleaner production methods and offering eco-friendly products.

Within the textile industry, specifically, companies have started developing ways to produce fibers from alternative sources. In fact, there are a growing number of businesses in the textile industry whose primary focus is the promotion and sales of environmentally friendly products.

NearSea Naturals is an online business out of New Mexico that offers a variety of organic fabrics, notions, yarns, and embellishments. The vast majority of their fabrics and textiles are 100% organic cotton or wool, including a sizeable collection of lace trims. Among some of their more interesting products are buttons created from bamboo, coconuts, and even antlers.

Also included in their selection of fabrics are printed organic cottons featuring fun, colorful graphics from Harmony Art Organic Design. With her business, designer Harmony Susalla is proving that organic fabric can be as fashionable as it is earth-friendly.

There are a number of other designers and businesses that are also challenging the idea that natural has to be neutral. The Wool Peddler, a family-run online store based in Vermont, offers an impressive assortment of recycled and natural yarns in the full spectrum of colors. Their recycled silk yarns come directly from Nepal, where women’s cooperatives and cottage industries transform recycled sari fabrics into skeins of vibrant yarn.

They also offer an array of banana silk yarns, produced from clothing industry remnants, in a range of brilliant colors. For a more subdued color palette, they have a selection of natural undyed alpaca, wool, and mohair yarns that can be used as is or hand-dyed to suit a project.

For a project to be truly “organic,” however, any hand-dyeing work should be done using natural dyes, extracted solely from plants or insects and fixed by natural means like minerals or metal salts. Those wanting to learn more about the natural dyeing process can visit the Aurora Silk website for information and articles on natural dyes from Master Dyer, Cheryl Kolander.

The benefit to using natural dyes, according to Kolander, is the lack of potentially toxic chemicals and absence of pollution during the production process. Aurora Silk also offers an extensive inventory of naturally dyed fiber products, such as fabric, thread, and yarn as well as natural dyes, kits, and books.

Additionally, there are an increasing number of large companies that have begun venturing into the environmentally friendly side of the textile industry. In January 2007, Mountain Mist announced the release of EcoCraft, its new line of naturally based fiberfill, batting, and pillowforms. All of these products are created using Ingeo, a fiber created from corn, a fully renewable resource.

Furthermore, the company, along with the International Quilt Study Center at the University of Nebraska, is sponsoring the Crafting a Better Planet Quilt Competition, which calls for entries that combine environmental and ecological themes using eco-friendly products and techniques. Winning quilts from the competition will be displayed at the Center in the fall of 2008 after it is relocated to a new “green” building on the campus. Though every entrant, according to Mountain Mist, “will win the satisfaction of creating an heirloom with a global purpose.”

In addition to the fabric and other textiles used in a fiber artwork, notions are an important part of the creation process for its artist. To ensure that a project is earth-friendly, it is important that any notions used were produced from renewable resources.

Though there are virtually no businesses in existence that manufacture eco-friendly notions exclusively, this is most likely due to a lack of need for such. Many of the notions that exist on the market today are already created from bamboo, the fastest growing plant on earth—a plant can grow up to six inches in a single day. Bamboo is also extremely resilient, as harvesting it does not prevent further growth, and is both versatile and recyclable.

The demand for increased use of recyclable materials is, after all, an essential element of the green movement and, therefore, crucial to the creation process of the truly “green” quilt. Though it could be argued that quilters are actually ahead of the curve when it comes to recycling since they have, historically, used and reused fabric scraps to create quilts.

For these quilters, recycling was a matter of necessity—fabrics were not as readily available and even if they were, most could not afford them. But quilters today can continue this tradition knowing that it will make a difference in both their pocketbooks and in the environment.

Aside from personally reusing textiles, quilters and fiber artists can also donate fabrics, clothing, or other fiber products to local charities, regardless of the condition of the item. According to the Council for Textile Recycling, close to a million tons of post-consumer textiles are collected by non-profit organizations each year. Of that, about half can be sold as second-hand items, while most of the remainder is recycled and used to create new products, often for individuals in third-world countries.

For designer, Betz White, recycling is all about coming up with new and creative uses for used and unwanted items. After she began experimenting with felted wool, White soon realized that she could try new techniques more quickly if she didn’t have to knit and then felt. So she began using second-hand sweaters to create items like pincushions, bags, and journal covers.

“At first, it was a quick and easy way to acquire materials,” she explains. “Soon it became almost addictive and I was inspired by the materials themselves. I also love the fact that I am reusing an otherwise ‘unloved’ item perhaps destined for the landfill.” Visitors to her website can purchase a “Cupcake Pincushion” or “Felted Bird Pouch,” personally created by White. Or for those wanting to try their own hand at felting recycled sweaters, her upcoming book, Warm Fuzzies: 30 Sweet Felted Projects (scheduled for release in late 2007), provides tips and techniques for felting, cutting, and sewing second-hand sweaters into gifts, accessories, and home decor items.

White is just one of many fiber artists and designers putting an artful twist on the concept of “reduce, reuse, recycle.” And as we make the transition into a more eco-friendly society, there are a number of businesses in the quilting and fiber arts industries that are enthusiastically embracing this change. But this should come as little surprise—after all, quilting has always been an art of resourcefulness. —Rhianna White

For additional information on the individuals and companies mentioned above visit the following websites:

www.turtlemoon.com (Susan Shie)
www.nearseanaturals.com
www.harmonyart.com
www.aurorasilk.com
www.mountainmistlp.com
www.betzwhite.com

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