Learn more about Sustainable Alternatives To Quilting Fabrics, and keep making your quilts, at the same time as you help the planet to be a better place.
When making a new quilt, quilters around the world look for pretty quilting fabrics, as they are designed and made with the quality needed to help you to make any patchwork, applique or any other technique you used to make a quilt top.
There is nothing better than going for fabric shopping to buy the fabric needed for a new quilt, you might be interested to find the right color palette, the texture and the patterns.
But you might know than fabrics for quilting are made of cotton, and to produce enough cotton to supply the demand of quilting fabrics around the world, cotton producers need to use more water and chemicals than other types of any other crop.
Dyes used to produce this type of fabrics, can also contaminate the water of rivers and lands.
For these reasons, as a quilter, you won’t stop making your new quilts, but you might get interested to know other types of fabrics than can be used to make a new quilt and be more Eco friendly.
Sustainable Alternatives To Quilting Fabrics
When shopping for a new fabric to make your quilts, you might not find the right information about each fabric at the store, but I want to share some fabrics than are more planet friendly and they are a good alternative to make your new quilts.
Linen
Linen fabric is made of a vegetable fiber, and it requires less water and fewer chemicals.
Linen is mostly produced in solid colors, with a smaller color palette where to find the right color for your new quilt, but there are many modern quilt patterns to try with solid color fabrics.
At the time to cut the pieces for making a new quilt top, linen is not the easiest fabric to work with, and you might need to use starch.
Hemp
As linen, help is a fiber produced from a plant than requires less water than cotton, this fiber can be weaven to produce a sturdy and smooth fabric.
Hemp fabrics are also produced in solids mostly, and with a limited color palette, but you can find a fabric to use as a background on a new quilt blocks, and with it, you’ll be using less cotton fabric.
Recycled Polyester
Polyester is a product made from petroleum, and there are many products made of it, never biodegrades, it requires more energy, but less water to be produced. With this, this type of fabric should not be considered sustainable fabric to work with, when you’re interested to help the planet. But there are many people around the world who are working on producing a new fabric from recycled polyester different products, with this you can think about new fabrics made of used plastic bags or bottles, with this, these types of fabrics can be used to make a new quilt top, at the same time you can make a good use of a recycle fabric.
Natural Fibers Blend
Quilting fabrics can be produced with natural fibers blend, and this could be a good alternative to work with a fabric than is made with less water and fewer chemicals. A blend of cotton and bamboo, linen and cotton, or silk and cotton, could be a great alternative and you might find the right fabric to make a new quilt!
Some Cotton Fabrics Are A Better Alternative
When your love to make your own quilts, but you’re interested to keep the planet a better place, you can find some other options of great fabrics to work with to make your new quilts.
Finding a better option of quilting fabrics, might come with a higher price tag, but you can be sure than the price to pay for every meter of fabric is helping to produce high quality cotton fabric in a sustainable way for the planet.
American Cottons
When you buy a cotton fabric than is produced in your country, this means than this is a better alternative, as it doesn’t have the need to be shipped from one country far from where you live and with it, there’s no need to use as much carbon to ship the fabric from one place to another on the planet.
The sames goes with any country where you live, if you have the chance to find some cotton fabrics than are made in your own country, this will be a better alternative.
Japanese Cottons
Japan has been interested to produce cotton fabrics in a better way, than in other countries in Asia, they are interested in producing cotton fabrics with less water and with environmental friendly dyes. When thinking about indigo cotton fabrics, you will find beautiful patterns to work with on your new quilt.
Organic Cottons
Fabrics made with organic cottons use less water and the minimum of pesticides, this makes these fabrics a great option to work with when your interested to keep making your quilts, but to help the planet to be a better place.
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