Where did you go, blog? You’ve ignored me for ages. It’s been so long I’ve almost forgotten how to interact with you.
The truth is, I’ve been distracted. My world was rocked by the overwhelming plastic waste, consumer gluttony, climate change effects that we are confronted with more and more. I’ve had to comb through how I feel about it all before I could write something that didn’t feel all “ranty”. I’ve invested in an electric car over a year ago, the environment has always mattered to me, and I froze. The plastic epiphany was the WORST! Along with the AWFUL FABRIC EPIPHANY!
I love fabric. I have cupboards full of it. All beautiful 100% quilting cottons, and some silks. And screeds of thread, oh, the colors! Eye candy! But then I looked into how that fabric is made. 2500 liters of water for one t-shirts worth? Not to mention the pesticides, dyes, etc. How could I write to quilters about this? The cornerstone of quilting these days is acquiring as much fabric as possible, isn’t it? I felt a bit sick.
My answer to this is to read garment labels very carefully, with a view to buying natural fibers, avoiding fiber blends. I try to avoid anything with the word poly in it… I found a company online that sells organic wide backing fabric, learned about GOTS certification, looked at batting and what natural fibers are available. I found certified organic thread! I slowed up a lot on purchasing anything without carefully considering it first. I favor places that package their items with a thought to the environment. I vote with my wallet.
Here are some things I learned.
There’s a lot of crap clothing, you have to search and find the good stuff. Anything that will eventually decompose is a good start.
GOTS certification stands for Global Organic Textile Standard, it’s a trustworthy measure in a world of grey area organic claims. You can read the hard core literature here. My GOTS certified fabric and thread is very soft.
Linen uses less resources in it’s manufacture… I took that to heart by ordering some.
Although cotton is a natural fibre, I’m happy using what I have in stock rather than mindlessly buying more.
Some fibers touted as natural use a lot of chemical processing to get them usable and pliable. Especially those made from tree cellulose.
There’s far too much plastic in the world. We don’t see it because it’s see through.
None of this has actually stopped me quilting. I’ve been practicing on quilt tops I bought online, getting to know my Statler, and engaging in as much training as I can get. There’s some great online resources, such as Skill Builders Club which has very good Statler specific lessons. I did a stint in Minnesota with Page Johnson, in a real quilt shop! It was awesome. And I went to the East Coast Gammill Conference in Virginia and met more Gammill lovers than I thought existed in the world. I’ve Quilted With Confidence in Sydney. I’m ready to quilt things that I haven’t pieced myself. Big girl panties, here I come!
P.S. After a long dry spell, I am going to look at a quilt shop today! We’re all human…