WINTER 2008 A PUBLICATION OF THE AMERICAN SEWING GUILD VOL.XIII, NO.1

INSIDE THIS ISSUE 2 From the Board 3 From Headquarters 4 Chapter News and Views Go Green! Sew Green! 20 by Samina Mirza Sew ‘n Share: American Cancer Wardrobe ofu T-shirts and corn couture... 22 Tthe terms evoke images of a “Project Sew ‘n Share: Sew You’re Traveling Runway” challenge, or a lifestyle product of the future where you can eat your clothing—or use it for compost. 26 But the reality is that materials previously found exclu- Sew ‘n Tell: ASG Down sively in the culinary world are making their presence Under in the fashion world. Think soy, bamboo, and corn. You 29 can also discard previously seedy connotations with the Sew ‘n Tell: Tame Your word . Hemp is now a darling of the environ- Sewing Space mentally friendly and fashionably forward crowd.

31 Why the excursion into the food BAMBOO Sew Young world when the average American is 35 happy wearing conventionally grown and produced Sew for the , synthetics, and blends? The benefits of these Gold newly popular have to do with concerns about saving the environment from pollution and minimizing detrimental effects 37 on the global climate and population. Increases in weather catastrophes Meet the ASG and wildlife and rain forest changes, which all affect the Award Winners human condition, are attributed to global warming, 39 which is the result of carbon emissions into the envi- Book Beat ronment. A significant portion of these emissions is caused Book Briefs CORN by the industry.

41 The green movement is beginning to take root in lifestyles Product Previews around the world, where there is a serious demand for apparel 42 made of fabrics with properties of biodegradability, sustainability, Industry Insider and eco-sensitive manufacturing. While mainstream America is just now beginning to pay attention to what an eco-friendly 48 lifestyle has to offer, Europeans are far ahead of us in actually ASG Conference 2008 demanding the goods and changing their behavior patterns to 49 reflect their environmental leanings. ASG Tours Green Is Beautiful 52 Gone are the days when organically grown fabric meant a dull Chapter Calendar beige, no-style . With “green” technology and processes making advances in the textile industry, 55 more and more big names in the fashion industry Advertiser Index are designing beautiful apparel using organically 56 produced fabrics. Think Oscar de la Renta, Giorgio Members Only Armani, Katherine Hamnett, Stella McCartney, SOY (continued on page 44) Go Green! Sew Green! water-based pigments are used (some (continued from page 1) vegetable, others safe chemical) to complete the properties of a “green” Elieen Fisher, and Levi Strauss, just to fabric. name a few. Think jeans, baby clothes, Fair Trade: True eco-sensitive man- evening gowns, accessories, and ufacturing is mindful of the fair trade bridal gowns. The design house of concept according to international Olivia Luca offers organic options for principles. A fair living wage for the their custom bridal gown customers, workers, a healthy environment, and with a selection of , silk a ban on child labor on the part of the shantung, hemp/silk , mill and farm are a big part of the bamboo/, and cotton — green movement. all organic, sustainable, and “fair Carbon Footprint: According to the trade.” Web site www.carbonfootprint.com, “a carbon footprint is a measure of Green Is Complex the impact human activities have on What makes a fabric “green”? The the environment in terms of green- answer lies in methods of farming, house gases produced, measured in harvesting, manufacturing, and mill units of carbon dioxide.” It goes fur- practices including treatment of mill ther to divide the carbon footprint workers. into two categories. The primary foot- Fabric production is one of the top print includes direct emissions from five polluting industries in the world. domestic energy use (such as using But the high fashion world is making the sewing machine, iron, washer and inroads by demanding that the dryer, etc.), as well as daily trans- process become less environmentally portation issues. The secondary foot- abusive. In the home sewing market, print is the result of buying habits. Is “green” fabrics are not as widely your fabric produced by organic available as conventional fabrics, and methods? How far did your fabric the choices are limited. Pricewise, have to travel to be sewn up on your organic and sustainable fabrics sewing machine? The more locally run the gamut from reasonable to produced a fabric, the less fuel con- quite expensive. Organic farming and sumption and the lower the carbon manufacturing methods (for exam- emission—which means a smaller ple, organic cotton is hand-picked) secondary footprint. may drive up the cost of some of Some aspects of our everyday lives these fabrics. just cannot help but leave a large car- A fabric may be natural but not nec- bon footprint. The concept of “car- essarily grown or manufactured in an bon-offset” is designed to help us eco-friendly fashion. What is sold as counteract this. For example, if you organic must meet strict federal must drive around the city to find guidelines for growing the crop and that perfect lining fabric, you can off- manufacturing the textile. This means set the emissions produced by your that the crop is grown without chem- car by doing something that will com- ical pesticides and fertilizers and the pensate for them. For example, you yardage is manufactured in textile could take public transportation, car- mills that do not use harmful chemi- pool, or organize fabric buying trips cals in the manufacturing process. where only one vehicle is used. That These mills employ production meth- is where our beloved ASG Neighbor- ods which use less water and energy, hood Groups can shine. There is noth- as well as minimum waste matter ing more enjoyable than fabric shop- run-off into streams and rivers. The ping with ASG friends! dyes used are “minimum impact dyes,” and when the fabric is printed,

© American Sewing Guild • www.asg.org ASG Notions • Winter 2008 Organic Fabrics Sustainable Crop Fabrics Familiar fabrics have Soy, hemp, bamboo, and corn are organic counterparts. what the ecology-minded like to call Cotton: Conventional farming and “sustainable” and “renewable” crops. manufacturing methods for cotton These are fast-growing plants that can are the most abusive to the environ- be replenished in a short amount of ment and the health of textile work- time. ers. Although the cotton crop is Bamboo: This is a much heralded grown in less than 3% of the world’s sustainable, renewable fiber. Not only farmed land, it consumes approxi- can it grow like wildfire without mately 25% of the pesticides. any fertilizer, but it is purported Organic cotton is the most easily to have other properties such available “green” fabric, even anti-microbial, UV-ray though organic cotton accounts blockage, soil and for only 0.03 percent of all the cot- moth resist- ton produced. What about the ance, and properties that make cotton easy breathabilty. to sew and use? Gone are the days It also takes when cotton had to be purchased less acreage with shrinkage in mind. In con- and water to ventional treatments, formal- grow. As plant dehyde is used to give cotton its life is wont to do, no-shrink and no-wrinkle proper- bamboo absorbs ties. In organic cotton production, carbon dioxide and

formaldehyde is not used. There HEMP emits oxygen into the are some manufacturers who use environment through the sanforization process to pre- the process of photosynthesis. What shrink the fabric and then use materi- gives bamboo the edge over slower als such as cornstarch to give it a crisp growing plant is that because it grows look. However, it’s “buyer beware” so fast, it absorbs more CO2. The because organic cotton may shrink. fiber’s smooth, hollow, and thin qual- 1 To be safe, purchase ⁄8 yard extra for ities make bamboo fabric strong and every yard of fabric you need. silky-soft at the same time. You can Silk: Organic silk is produced with find bamboo in such diverse fabrics all the required standards for the tex- as , , and the softest knit. tile mills, and with methods free from Corn: The cornfields of the Ameri- animal (or silkworm) cruelty. Con- can Midwest may very well qualify as ventional silk farming kills the larvae the next hot thing in the fashion (and by boiling the cocoon to unwrap the therefore sewing) world. Corn is the silk fibers around it—all in the name latest darling of the eco-minded. of speeding up the harvesting We’ve been nourishing ourselves process. With animal-sensitive farm- with corn for hundreds of years. Who ing, the moth leaves the cocoon on its would have thought we would be own, after which the fibers are using it for transporting ourselves obtained from the cocoon that is left and covering our bodies too! At least behind. two textile companies have created : Wool sold as organic must man-made fibers that begin by follow strict guidelines set up by the extracting the sugar (glucose) from Organic Trade Association. The sheep corn kernels, fermenting the sugar, must be fed certified organic feed. and then transforming the fermented Synthetic hormones and pesticides products into a high performance are prohibited and the producers polymer which is extruded into must keep their livestock healthy through good management practices. (continued on page 46)

ASG Notions • Winter 2008 © American Sewing Guild • www.asg.org Go Green! Sew Green! Fiberfill and Batting: There are great inspirational source for hybrid (continued from page 45) several eco-friendly stuffing choices. sweaters. (www.anthropologie.com) Fairfield Processing’s Nature-fil bat- Don’t let those small fabric scraps fibers. DuPont’s version is called ting and fiberfill are made of bamboo, sit around collecting dust. Make a Sorona; Cargill Inc. produces Ingeo. a naturally soft and breathable option crazy quilt project or use them to Hemp: Hemp fabric isn’t new. In that’s perfectly suited to wearable art. pillows. Fashion them into appliqués fact, it’s the fabric Betsy Ross used for The EcoCraft line of batting and fiber- or create contrast facings, piping, and the first American flag—a good fill from Mountain Mist Company is other small but interesting details for choice because hemp is a strong and made with Ingeo, a corn by-product. your sewing projects. Donate them to durable fiber. It is actually more water Interfacing: Mistyfuse fusible inter- a local school or youth organization absorbent and will dye better and facing is a product from Esterita for art projects. retain its color better than any fabric, Austin that is produced with solvents Yes, can be seriously recy- including cotton. But hemp, like other that are safe for the environment. cled, and not just by re-sewing it into vegetable fibers, contains a natural Bamboo Accessories: Bamboo point something else! Here’s a great way to glue called lignin. If the lignin is left turners, as well as needles make sure that your favorite Polartec in, the coarse fabric is great for things and crochet hooks, were “green” long fleece creation doesn’t end up in a like flags but too rough for most before the movement had a name. landfill. If it’s too worn to be seen in apparel. The traditional method for Buttons: Buttons from natural and public, send it to Patagonia, whose removing lignin uses acids, which found materials, tape, elastics, high-end synthetic fleece clothing is weakened the hemp fibers and left and beautiful organic cotton are worn by people who enjoy the very them too unstable for use. However, available from Web-based companies environment that synthetic fleece in the mid 1980s, researchers devel- like NearSea Naturals. JHB has real manufacturing destroys. Patagonia is oped an enzymatic process to suc- rock buttons which are available an eco-conscious company that col- cessfully remove lignin from the wherever JHB buttons are sold. lects used Polartec clothing (any hemp fiber without compromising its Dyes: Dyes made from natural pig- brand) to melt and create new fabric. strength. This opened the doors to a ments and soymilk used as a binding Some of the old fabric collected is wide range of fabrics, either 100% agent and sizing agent makes the already recycled plastic, so the “car- hemp or hemp blended with other whole process gentler on the bon footprint” is even smaller. fibers, such as cotton and Lycra, environment. “Salvation through Information about their recycled which are wonderful for both apparel Soy!” by John Marshall (http://www. fleece garments program is on and home dec uses. johnmarshall.to/8-RPublications. Patagonia’s Web site Seaweed: On the horizon, but not html) draws on his knowledge of tra- (www.patagonia.com). yet commonly available, is fiber and ditional Japanese dyeing techniques. fabric made from 100% seaweed or A Greener Sewing Room seaweed blended with other fibers. Re-use, Re-make, Re-style There are changes—large and small— Soy: Soy fabric uses fibers made One way to make our sewing activi- that you can make so that your with the dregs left over from soybean ties a little less emission-heavy is to sewing environment is greener, too. oil and tofu production. It was first embrace the old recycle concept rein- Lighting: Use the CFL (compact created by a Chinese gentleman vented as re-use, re-make, and re- fluorescent lightbulb) in your sewing named Li Guanqi and is now avail- style. While fabric shopping is in room or sewing area. These small, able in the U.S. The fabric feels as every sewer’s DNA, creating things swirly-shaped bulbs, which can be comfortable and soft as silk and cash- from “found fabric” recycled from used in lieu of incandescent light mere. While pure soy fabric is not other clothing is another way to flex bulbs, fit into the same socket and use widely available to the home sewer, a your sewing skills. 75% less energy. They give off the soy/cotton blend fabric can be found Want a new sweater this winter? same amount of light with consider- via online retailers. For knitters and Try making a hybrid from ably less wattage. For example, the 7- weavers, soy is available, also your current collection watt CFL gives the same amount of online. of stained, torn, out- light as a 40-watt incandescent. When dated, or just unwant- they finally burn out, be sure to dis- Greener Sewing Notions ed sweaters. Sweater card them in the recycling bin and not The notions industry has made bodies can be com- with your general trash. They contain some progress with manufac- bined and scarves can a small amount of mercury, which turing certain notions. Here are be reborn as sleeves. doesn’t belong in a landfill. a few to consider: Anthropologie is a Consider installing a Solatube in

© American Sewing Guild • www.asg.org ASG Notions • Winter 2008 the ceiling. This brighter alternative SEWING GREEN to a skylight lets in a consistent Many fabric sources, including local amount of daylight all day, no matter fabric retailers who support ASG and what the position of the sun. The tube advertisers who support Notions, has a compact and flexible design that carry some organic fabrics. In addi- allows it to be installed in just about tion, here are a few who deal exclu- any room, including rooms without sively in organic : direct roof access and smaller spaces where daylight usually is not an The Bamboo Fabric Store option. www.bamboofabricstore.com Flooring: Consider carpet that is Mountaintop Publications made from recycled plastic bottles. If 274 Birdsall Road, Farmingdale NJ 07727 remodeling, consider bamboo floors. 732-835-9326 100% bamboo fabrics and bamboo blends, Cleaning: Want to give away your as well as bamboo yarn for knitting stuff to good homes rather than throw it away? Join Freecycle.org, a non- Hemp Fabric Shop profit online organization whose www.hempfabricshop.com members are dedicated to keeping Mountaintop Publications good stuff out of landfills. Member- 274 Birdsall Road, Farmingdale NJ 07727 ship is free and you can post mes- 732-835-9326 sages on the boards offering to give 100% hemp woven and knitted fabrics away things that you don’t want or need, rather than throwing away the Mystic Bamboo items. Someone else in your commu- www.mysticbamboo.com nity decides they would like those 28552 Munera, Mission Viejo CA 92692 949-813-8547 things and makes arrangements to A range of bamboo fabrics—mainly blends pick them up. No shipping is —including French terry, denim, and required since all the action takes place locally. NearSea Naturals Energy conservation: Remember to www.nearseanaturals.com unplug all machines and irons when PO Box 345, Rowe NM 87562 not in use, even if they are turned off. 877-573-2913 Keeping the machines plugged in Organic cotton and wool fabrics, sustain- puts a strain on the grid. able blend fabrics, buttons from natural and recycled materials, organic batting and stuff- Samina Mirza is an ASG member and ing, natural and organic , and more past president of the Houston Chapter. Organic Cotton Plus She is now a member of the ASG Head- www.organiccottonplus.com quarters staff with responsibility for 822 Baldridge Street, O’Donnell TX 79351 membership. 806-428-3345 Organic cotton fabrics, including nine types of undyed cotton and 110"-wide sheet- ing

PM Organics www.pmorganics.com P.O. Box 31281, Alexandria VA 22310 703-627-1512 Wide variety of knit and woven organic cotton fabrics, plus organic cotton yarn, twill and bias tapes, Cluny-style

ASG Notions • Winter 2008 © American Sewing Guild • www.asg.org