Sewing in Unlikely Places

There is much sewing going on to fill orders and prepare for the upcoming Four Corners Art and Artisan Festival July 19th in Tiverton, RI. (Stop by if you are local--10-4!) 

Produce and wet bags.

There is also much work in the garden. Now that the initial planting is done, some harvesting has begun (peas and raspberries), and the weeds are starting to feel way too comfortable, keeping me busy.

About half of the vegetable garden is shown here, there are more flower and herb patches around the property (all in need of weeding!) Apologies for the crummy picture...I need to stop taking phone pics...

With all that time in the garden, plus my commitment to designing eco-friendly alternatives to plastic, it should be no surprise that I am a long-time subscriber to Organic Gardening magazine. 

Imagine my surprise when I turned to this page in the current summer issue.

Very cool article! Natalie Chanin is a designer in Alabama committed to using organic cotton fabric. The article used the phrase "wearable sustainability," which is new to me. In order to make her process more sustainable, she wanted to be able to source the cotton locally, not buy it from Texas. In my eyes, that's pretty amazing to be able to buy organic cotton from within the US, but reducing the carbon emissions from the shipping process is commendable. The premise of the article is that she planted 6 acres of cotton, grew and harvested it with the help of volunteers to prove that you could grow organic cotton in her state. 


This makes me think that it doesn't take millions to make a difference. Just one person. Which inspires me to keep doing what I'm doing and to continue striving for even more sustainability. I will not likely add cotton to my vegetable garden here in Rhode Island, but I do want to start moving away from polyester fabric. That would mean fewer fabric choices in my product line, maybe a slight increase in final retail price. 


What are your thoughts on sustainable sewing??