organic cotton fabric

The Stitchery Dorset is your online haven for organic cotton fabrics, now that most retail haberdasheries are no more. Just click the ‘organic fabric’ tab on the left of the Etsy shop, to find lots of lovely choices for your sewing projects.

Organic cotton is much better for the planet, wildlife and cotton farmers, and doesn’t release chemicals in the washing machine, when laundered. At end of life, it also safely biodegrades.

If using organic cotton for clothing projects, it also tends to wear better and be more comfortable. And as fibres have not been treated with chemicals, organic cotton tends to last longer too.

organic cotton fabric

This haberdashery also stocks organic sewing thread. Available in 34 colours, this is spun in Holland with a blend of the longest fibres, to make it smooth and strong. Suitable for seams, overlock, top stitching and embroidery, this won’t shrink or bleed with washing and is supplied on a wooden spool. All you need is your skills and a sewing machine!

organic cotton fabric

What Makes a Fabric Organic?

Organic fabric doesn’t grow on trees, so to speak. For a fabric to be called organic, it’s got to meet certain criteria. These include using materials grown without synthetic pesticides or toxic chemicals. Common materials like cotton and bamboo can be organic.

However, they must be certified by trusted entities such as the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) or the Organic Content Standard (OCS). These certifications ensure that the farming practices — and the fabric itself — adhere to strict environmental and social standards. In short, it’s all about where it comes from and how it grows.

Benefits of Choosing Organic Fabrics

Why choose organic? Let’s start with the obvious: sustainability. Organic fabrics reduce your environmental footprint because they’re made with eco-friendly practices. They’re also generally safer to wear, as they lack harmful chemicals that can irritate your skin. Plus, organic production uses less water and promotes biodiversity. In essence, choosing organic is a step towards a healthier planet and a healthier you.

Support Local Haberdasheries:

Never overlook your local fabric stores! They often stock organic fabrics, and sometimes at lower prices than big-name retailers. Visiting in person lets you feel the fabric quality first-hand. Plus, shopping locally supports your community and promotes sustainable practices. Next time you’re out, why not pop into a nearby store and see what they offer?

How to Dye Fabric, Naturally

dyeing yarn naturally

Dyeing Yarn Naturally looks at how to colour vegan yarn, with plant-based dyes. Packed with tips and photos, learn about pH and metal modifies to achieve a wide range of colours, then find recipes for 25 dye plants, and tips to forage/source dyes from plants. It also covers processes to make blue shades like indigo and woad.

Despite the image of kittens playing with balls of wool, it’s a choking/tangling hazard, so keep it secured away, for the safety of feline friends. If growing or foraging for plants, learn how to avoid toxic plants like indigo, near pets

Natural Kitchen Dyes shows how to use vegetable peels to create blush pinks and peach, fruit skins to make lemon yellows, a green dye sourced from carrot tops, dried spices and used tea bags to create vibrant yellows, rich terracottas and deep browns.

You can then use waste that would be composted or recycled (like old clothes) and turn them into colourful bags and patchwork floor cushions, or dried pulses past their sell-by date, to make a beaded necklace. Stoney Creek Colors offers plant-based dyes.

My Indigo World is a children’s story of the colour blue. Not many natural plants are blue, which is why it’s more difficult to dye items this colour. The book includes the science behind making blue dye with an ‘indigo map’ of shades produced around the world, plus tips to make blue dye.

Wild Yarn is a beautiful book by a textile artist, who creates rich textured works from yarn that she spins and blends herself. In this book, she looks at how she does it. As well as covering plant fibres like hemp and soya, the book focuses on an interesting idea of creating wool from rescued sheep on the South Downs.

Just like ‘vegetarian wool’, this would create a wonderful alternative income for farmers who presently kill sheep to make lamb (or older sheep in the wool industry).

Sheep need to be sheared, so making this into a big industry could fuel the demand for wool (both for knitting and clothing) yet also help to keep sheep alive and well, while providing income for farmers.

Although sheep do need shearing to avoid over-heating, falling over (right one up if you see it upside down or it will die) and to see predators, the conventional wool industry has many issues.

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