B.Y.O.P Plastic Free July Craft Along!

[JZsketch]

That’s right it’s time for another one! For anyone who hasn’t seen me around before, my name is JZ (he/they) and I run the Eco Crafters space. July is known as “Plastic Free July” and the main aim of the month is to spread awareness of how destructive plastic is for the planet and how it’s hidden in every day items. The goal of the official month is to go the month with using as little plastic as possible which includes avoiding recyclable plastic too as recycling is a broken system and is actually not that great for the planet.

Obviously we can’t all go 100% plastic free and there is NO shame in that, never beat yourself up for that. The important part is that we cut down on plastic where we can, sadly I see a lot of plastic being used within the crafting world and a lot of people I’ve talked to didn’t even realise they were using plastic fibres. Acrylic, polyamide, elastic, nylon, polyester are all made from plastic.

The main reasons I see for people using plastic fibres is price, wool allergy and veganism. People seem to think the only options other than animal fibres and plastic is cotton when that’s far from true. There’s so many plant based options these days and they’re not all overpriced like they used to be due to more companies getting on the sustainability trend. Yes some companies charge an arm and a leg for it but there are many, often small indie companies, that offer natural fibres in beautiful colours. In the UK for example there is VeganYarnUK which is owned and ran by a single woman, she has many fibres available, will do custom dye orders and doesn’t charge loads for them, they’re very affordable.

So what is this craft along going to be? Basically to take part in this craft along you simply make projects without any synthetic plastic fibres. It could be animal or plant based, but no plastic. An exception would be elastic in vegan sock yarn as it needs it to be able to stretch to fit on a foot or some nylon for strength in a sock yarn. But other than that no acrylic, polyester ect. Another way to take part is to work on repairing clothes, bedding ect this month rather than throwing it away. It would be great if you also make an effort to cut down on plastics where you can in your life and talk about that here. If you need some help or advice feel free to reach out to me. Today is June 29th and we will start on July 1st, I hope you will take part.

Feel free to also join my discord and participate in the chat in there for this craft along and my community in general. Link here. Discord is NOT REQUIRED, it’s an optional extra.

[Rosettalove213]

I would love to do this but I do not have discord sadly, I could participate through this though

[JZsketch]

That’s perfectly okay, a lot of my discord community don’t use Ribblr so I like to have the option for either platform so people can take part on either one I’ve been trying to decide which projects I’ll focus on throughout the month.

[jbcohen]

I’ll be taking part as best I can, as funny enough I can’t use most of the plastic yarns due to my skin (not including the nylons in my sock yarns which can’t be helped). I wish I could say I will be even 80% plastic free but sadly my sticker papers do have plastics in them (gloss and a waterproof Vinyl) but I’m gunna try my hardest for sure!

[Kevan06]

I would love too, but I am not allowed discord due to being bullied on it from my old friends

[JZsketch]

Discord is not required, I said it’s there as an option. Just like my sock and pride craft alongs they’re hosted on Ribblr, the discord us just an extra option for people who eant it.

[Kevan06]

Oh, ok

[JZsketch]

One of my goals for the month is to swatch up and make notes on a selection of plant based yarn samples I got for my records. I’m making a knit and crochet mini swatch for each yarn, writing notes on how they are to work with, how they feel, which craft I think it will work best with and what things I could make from said fibre.

Here’s a closer look at the list of what I have.

So far I’ve only worked up one of them, the banana/nettle yarn.

[anoswaldoddity]

What a clever idea! And the projects small enough to get a sense of accomplishment.
I see ideas for you to write a book on plant based fibers.

[JZsketch]

If I was a spinner and had access to raw fibres I would probably consider doing exactly that. But I’m not an that’s okay. Though I am basically building myself a physical reference for various fibres, knit and crochet swatches as well as different brands of yarns ect all based on what I use. But with these yarns in particular I am planning on sharing my results in a blog post once I eventually get it all done and am happy with my writing. Oh and they are all undyed so they are the natural colours.

[JZsketch]

I thought of another option for something that could be worked on this month, trying to use up every little scrap, for example brushing out left over small bits of yarn of any fibre with a wire pet brush to make it into fluffy fibre and then using it as stuffing. Or using small scraps of fabric to make a bigger piece of fabric or a small scrap project.