Gossypium is an independent online shop based in the UK that makes clothing, bedding, and accessories that are fair trade and environmentally friendly. Their Ethical and Eco Practices page is a model for any textile business. Luckily for crafters, they also offer some of their fabrics by the yard. Their organic cotton fabrics are fair trade certified, and printed using water based ink. They have two different kinds of fabric: a woven shirting weight fabric that’s 240 cm wide, and an interlock fabric sold in 160 cm width....

Like Amenity, Mod Green Pod, and Oliveira Textiles, the fun new fabrics from Rubie Green are high end decorator fabrics with a high end price tag: about $90 per yard. But oh, the lovely! Pictured above are Megan, Patsy, and Portobello. Rubie Green’s full line of fabrics includes two stripes, a zigzag, a funky zebra stripe print, a kind of lattice looking print, and a floral. The zebra stripe and the zigzag come in two colorways each, and Patsy also comes in green, for a total of 12 fabrics....

Of course, when you’re sick, crafting is probably the LAST thing on your mind, which is why these five healing, comforting, or just plain useful projects are best to craft right now, when hopefully you’re feeling hale and hearty, and well and crafty! Useful when heated up for cramps and chills, and useful when chilled for fevers and sprains, a rice pillow can be sewn from stash fabric (or an old pair of flannel pajamas) and filled from your pantry....

While obviously not all repairs are really a simple three-step process, I do like his enthusiasm. Let’s fix it, y’all! Got a broken thing? Don’t pitch it. Fix it! Here are lots of ways to repair instead of replace. If you don’t see the repair you need to make listed below, drop a comment! Fix It! 20 Ways to Mend and Repair Things That Are Broken Repair a Separated Pocket – Does your favorite dress or hoodie have a pocket that’s pulling away at the corners?...

Using food to color fibers is as nearly as old as agriculture itself. The more “modern” style of dyeing yarn is by using Kool-Aid. As eco-conscious crafters, we all know that is not much of a sustainable option. Head down to your local farmers market or co-op grocery store and you will find an endless supply of creative possibilities that are free of dangerous and questionable chemicals. Lion Brand offers a great basic tutorial on how to use foodie finds to color yarns and it is a great place to start for new color advocates....

Action figures are all well and good, but what could be cooler than a Superman-style badge with the first letter of your very own name? My little nephews are superhero CRAZY. Seriously, they are obsessed. They are 5 and 7 years old and can name every superhero on every show, and they love playing with their action figures. I’m always on the lookout for fun little crafty gifts that I can make for them, and when I was packing for a recent visit with them, inspiration struck: personalized superhero badges!...

In a few weeks I’m moving into a rental home with two other roommates. We’re all musicians, so it’s a no-brainer that we’re going to have lots of musical items/instruments to decorate. My head is spinning with ideas, so I decided to finally work on some wall art for our music space! What You Will Need: An old frame. I used one that I found at a yard sale....

Need some DIY storage ideas for your jewelry? Here’s how to organize jewelry with a common yard sale find. Now that you’ve made tons of DIY recycled jewelry, how do you keep it all organized? A few years ago, I shared a repurposed organizer from a desk drawer on our sister site. I put it on top of the wire shelves in my bathroom to keep small items and accessories from falling through the spaces....

Need some ideas for how to reuse old jeans in your closet? We have you covered! On our “How do I reuse…?” page, reader evamerie41 asked for help reusing… What a great question! It’s always a bummer when our favorite pair of jeans wears out, isn’t it? A good pair of jeans are like an old friend. Sure, you can donate too-big or too-small jeans to the thrift store, but after years and years of wear and tear, some jeans are just not mendable anymore....

Other than getting rid of some of my stuff–which I am NOT willing to do!–I feel like keeping stuff contained and organized goes a long way towards making my house look only charmingly cluttered. Pile of interesting rocks on the bathroom counter? Put them in a cute fabric basket, and now they’re decorative! Soda can pop tops all over the kitchen table because the teenager “collects” them? That little fabric basket is the new pop top holding area!...

Why not hang them from this handmade, decoupaged jewelry holder made from a wooden plaque? Here’s what you’ll need to make this super cute–and super useful!–project: Wooden plaque. You can buy these new from craft stores, although you’ll want to be aware of the provenance of store-bought wood. An even better option is a thrifted wood plaque–I dare you to find someone’s old commemorative award plaque and make it over!...

These mason jar centerpieces are easy to make and add a little bit of shine to your tablescape. Psst! I have a secret about these mason jar centerpieces: only one of them is actually made from a mason jar. Don’t get me wrong. We love mason jar crafts over here. But what I love more than a mason jar is upcycling. For many mason jar crafts, any old glass jar will do....

I am always thrilled to find a new craft idea. Too bad I have more ideas than time. But hopefully you’ll have some time this summer to try a few of these fun ideas even if I don’t. The basket above, is one I personally love. It is a basket made from blue jeans. I’ve come across quite a few blue jean crafts but a basket is not one I’ve seen before....

Fortunately, these handmade greeting cards, below, don’t require a degree in Scrapbooking. They also utilize a variety of skills, so you can look for the methods that suit you best. So check out all the tutorials, pick your favorite, and get started making something special to send to someone even more special! Quilted Greeting Cards Because you don’t need to know how to papercraft if you know how to sew!...

Instead of buying a generic plastic bucket for your child’s Halloween candy, why not create your own? Not only is making your own a fun experience, but it’s way more eco-friendly! What You Will Need: A shoe box Magazines Hot glue/hot glue gun Scissors Junk mail envelopes A Pencil How To Do It: Find pages in your magazines that are dark in color and tear/cut them out. Then, cut your pages into strips....

We’ve all heard about the shirt quilt (it’s fun to make for a new college student’s dorm room), but what about curtains, valance, bedskirt, children’s clothing, diapers or dresses? Martha Stewart has a fabulous idea for making a reusable shopping tote out of t-shirts. What a fun way to reuse all those souvenir and college tee’s. This bag is simple to make: There is only one line to sew and a couple of places to cut (sleeves and neckline)....

At least I have a say as to what goes in their lunches. I’m planning on buying Sigg bottles and adorable handmade snack sacks by gnomeclothes, but due to the back-to-school bank account drain, it’s going to be bags of chips and juice pouches till the next paycheck. You know the old saying: When life give you Capri Sun Lemonade, sew zipper pouches! Check out this great tutorial for a recycled juice pouch pencil bag on Skip to my Lou....

My BFF Jen was the first to tell me about transforming pillowcases into dresses for little girls which was showcased in one of the old Victorian magazines she used to collect. She decided she wanted to give it a try but had lost the original pattern. So I went on a pattern hunt and ended up finding pillowcase patterns for several types of dresses, skirts, rompers, even tanks tops and camisoles....

You lucky ducks who’ve had feet upon feet of snow already probably don’t care, but I’ve been desperately staving off the whining for snow in my house with tons of snowflake crafts. If you, too, feel the need to get your DIY snowflake craft on, here are several crafty tutorials to get you started. And, because a snowflake that harms the environment is a pretty darned poor snowflake, all of the crafty snowflakes below are made from primarily eco-friendly ingredients....

Looking for a Halloween craft that doesn’t involve a bunch of junky plastic? Let nature be your inspiration. This eggshell ghost mobile from The Magic Onions looks both simple and fun for kids to make, and since you’re basically making these ghosts from your breakfast trash, I think it counts as upcycling, as well! And after Halloween, there will be little waste to dispose of; even with their marker decorations, those eggshells can still be crushed and dug into your garden beds....