Sustainable quilting

material world

With increasing awareness of climate change and growing global inequalities, there’s a clarion call to protect the planet and improve the lives of everyone worldwide. Nations, governments, organisations and businesses are all being encouraged to embrace sustainable development by implementing positive alternatives to the status quo.

But what does it mean to do things sustainably? Broadly, it’s meeting the needs of the present without compromising future generations’ ability to do the same. On an individual level, the significant changes required to “live lightly” can seem overwhelming and too onerous for personal actions to have any meaningful effect. But no matter how small, every switch to doing something more sustainably can make a difference. Whether it’s saving energy in the home, using the car less, buying local foods or reducing waste, little changes all add up. As publicity about the issues spreads, more of us are keen to play a part and are taking steps to alter our habits and routines, including thinking about how our hobbies can be adapted to be more environmentally friendly.

“Sustainable quilting” may be quite a recent term, but patchwork has a reputation, not wholly warranted, of being a “waste not, want not” type of craft. It may be true that in times gone by leftover scraps and good pieces salvaged from textiles beyond repair were saved to be transformed into something new. And, undoubtedly, for poorer families, making quilts from oddments was an activity borne of thrift. But even in the early 1800s, those who had the funds could buy off-cuts and ready-cut pieces from drapers and haberdashers that were sold specifically for use in patchwork. So, we shouldn’t run away with the notion that purchasing new fabric for a particular project – or to squirrel away in a stash – is a phenomenon of our mass consumerist age.

MATERIAL WORLD

Like everything else, fabrics come in and go out of fashion, but, for understandable reasons, 100% cotton is generally regarded as