Eco-Quilting: Sew Sustainable

Welcome Jody to my Blog Today! 

My name is Jody Groenendyk. I am a quilt pattern designer based out of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I am a scientist by day but a creative quilter at night! Creativity is a part of my everyday life. I enjoy designing and completing experiments in my daily work as a Biochemist, where I develop a ‘protocol’, very similar to designing a pattern. I experiment with fabric, quilt patterns, and quilting pantographs. I like modern, edgy, and creative designs. I own Gingerberry Quilts, a small, eclectic (AKA colourful), online quilt shop where I design quilt patterns, offer longarm quilting, and produce quilts, tea towels, bags, wall hangings and small quilted items. I am passionate about sustainability and transpar­ency in quilting but also about colour and living outside my comfort zone! Gingerberry is a nod to my traditional side, but I am drawn to anything Mid-Century Modern! I love pops of colour, all brought together with a neutral. I specialize in creating beginner and intermediate Mid Century Modern inspired quilt patterns. 

Eco-Quilting: Sew Sustainable.

What is this and why do I need to worry about it?

I had never heard of eco-quilting before reading a blog from a local fabric store. It got me thinking and I started to do research on discarded fabric (because I am a scientist...) and was horrified to discover that fabric accumulation in landfills is quickly becoming a global problem. In some countries, fabric waste can make up to 9% of the total solid waste each year! You may have seen the photos of the mountains of discarded clothing and fabric that cannot be reused. Furthermore, the textile industry uses a huge amount of energy, water, and other valuable resources to produce material. For example, cotton, although 100% natural and harvested from a quickly growing plant, is usually sprayed with pesticides and fertilizers, chemicals that normally would not go into the soil or groundwater. Fabric made using polyester and nylon uses byproducts produced from petroleum (oil), an industry which is a big emitter of greenhouse gases. Eco-Quilting can be one way to address fabric sustainability. Eco-quilting, similar to the three R's of waste recycling - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, is the practice of repurposing, reusing, and recycling fabric. This involves introducing small habits into your everyday quilting routine that are friendly to the environment!

Some easy ones to include are:

Repurpose fabric from items around the home into new projects - such as unused sheets, shirts, and jeans and incorporate them into your quilts. I currently use handwoven cotton fabric from a baby wrap that I got at a thrift store into small makeup bags. Plaid shirts also make fantastic blocks!

Reuse second hand fabric from thrift stores. Every thrift store I have been in has a section for fabric. These are usually pieces of fabric that have come in as a donation that are essentially new. You can find some hidden gems in this section! These fabrics are also useful for a backing or accent fabric. 

Buy recycled fabric for projects. Recycled cotton is available and can be used for many different purposes. I use recycled cotton muslin for the backing of my pillow tops and wall hangings. No one sees this layer and it makes me feel better about my fabric choices! 

Another way to reduce fabric production is to use little to no-waste quilt patterns. This one is a little bit harder to monitor as these patterns are not usually marked as low waste. I recently made a quilt pattern that was featured in a popular quilting magazine and I was shocked at how much waste it generated. It was pieced in such a manner that I ended up cutting off the corners after another piece was added on top (similar to how flying geese are made with squares rather than triangles). Some of the pieces were 11" though and generated huge chunks of fabric. Fortunately, I can use this fabric in other projects, but I would prefer to use a pattern that starts out with little to no waste. To try to counteract these types of patterns, I design little to no waste quilt patterns, such as the Lynn County Quilt Pattern and the Free Rockies Quilt Pattern. 

Use the fabric in your stash for the next new project. Try to challenge yourself to make a quilt using fabric that you don't like anymore or won't use in other projects. You could use this fabric to make quilts to donate to those in need, such as for Blankets of Love, a charity that gives a quilt to people that are currently in mental health facilities across Canada. www.blanketsoflove.ca

Finally, use up those scraps! Little pieces can be used for puff quilts, seaglass wall hangings, pet beds, scrappy bags or anything that uses small pieces. Keep all your bits of batting and backing and use them to fill pillows or foot stools! 

The other option is to give your scraps to someone else. There are many people who are unable to afford large amounts of fabric and love using scraps. Ask around in your guild or even in quilting Facebook groups. Lots of quilters will be interested!

Hopefully incorporating these small changes will affect the amount of fabric that goes to landfill!

To learn more tips and tricks, check out my newsletter, Bad Choice Stories, at www.gingerberry quilts.ca. When you sign up, you will get a Free Rockies Quilt Pattern, a Free printable Ah-Mazing Monthly Quilt Planner and a great selection of Bad Choice Stories!

To celebrate Earth Month, I am giving 10% off of all my products on my website for the month of April. Use the CODE: BLOGHOP! Check it out at www.gingerberryquilt.ca.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. These links provide me with a small compensation if you make a purchase using my link. There is not cost to you when you do this. My thoughts and opinions given in this blog post are mine.