Fab Fabrics took a little hiatus, but we’re back and ready to get the ball rolling again with lovely, sustainable fabric choices! This week, I’m drooling over Spin Spin proprietress Susan Fitzgerald’s sweet screen printed designs.

Fitzgerald prints on all natural fabrics, like hemp/organic cotton blends and uses water-based, eco-friendly inks on all of her hand-printed fabrics. The Melbourne, Australia designer says being kind to the planet is important to her and to her business because:

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Handmade Home: Simple Ways to Repurpose Old Materials into New Family Treasures by Amanda Blake Soule is the green craft book for those of you who love the shabby chic type of decor that not only feels comfortable but is almost necessary when you have small children.

The book is full of wonderful ways to use everyday discarded items and make them into heartfelt treasures, shabby chic decor, and fun family memories.

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I like to make educational toys for my girls–matching games from their artwork, file folder games, extension activities for the books they read, anything that will allow them to incorporate what I want them to learn into the pleasures of their lives.

These particular bean bags were inspired by my three-year-old, who hasn’t yet memorized her numbers. Sure, she can count on her fingers and plays a mean game of Uncle Wiggily, but sit down long enough to figure out the difference between a 5 and a 9? Eh. Why not just call everything an 8?

The beauty of the stenciling, however, is that you can put anything that you want on these bean bags–kids’ names, states and capitals, letters (I really want to make this alphabet bean bag set), or instructions for the craziest Game Night game ever! Here’s how to make them:

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We’re committed to repurposed, eco-friendly fibers around here, and that means we want our crafts to be sustainable from the inside out!

Here are some resources for organic cotton and recycled batting that you can use in your next quilting project!

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Oh dear, I love my recycled T-shirt crafts! And, it appears, so do many of my fellow bloggers. In our defense, T-shirts have a world of things going on for them in terms of crafting: they’re pre-washed (and wash well), they’re readily available and affordable at pretty much any thrift shop, and they add huge graphic impact, as well as personality, to one’s work.

T-shirts have another benefit when one is crafting specifically for babies: oh, my, they’re so super-soft! They’re also light, and the seams that you create aren’t itchy. In other words–perfect!

Here are some perfect T-shirt crafts to create for babies:

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Just last week we were talking about your scrap bin as a fabulous, free fabric resource. Today, I ran across yet another amazing project for those little scraps: Miss Prickly’s Patchy Belt!

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