The Sewing Studio is going GREEN. It feels good to take care of Mother Earth, so we sewing junkies are making changes to do our part.

 

• All finished with your fabric? Don’t throw it out! Toss it in one of our scrap fabric bins. Surely someone will treasure that swatch, whether it’s for stuffing or scrunchies. Swing by the studio any time to help yourself.

 

• We love patterns. But sometimes they lose their appeal after they’ve been made or after they’ve spent months kicking around your sewing room. Enter our pattern swap boxes. Take one and leave one and get inspired (while saving a tree or two).

 

• Although sewing hasn’t made it into the Olympics yet, we assure you you’ll work up a thirst. We’ve got a water cooler to the rescue and we encourage you to bring a reusable water bottle so you can fill up, quench, and save the planet.

 

• A fan of clothing swaps? The Sewing Studio hosts fabric swaps to sew new life into fabric that didn’t make the cut the first time around. Sewers guaranteed to be satisfied.

 

• We’re going green all over the place (but in a clean, non-fungussy way), using environmentally friendly cleaners in all the studio’s nooks and crannies.

 

• Let there be light! We’re changing our light bulbs from halogen to compact fluorescent. They use way less energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

 

• We love trees so our student handout packages are proudly printed on recycled, non-chlorine bleached paper.

 

• We heard about tissue brand Kimberly-Clark’s clearcutting ways: they’re destroying ancient forests including Canada’s Boreal forest. That’s a no-no. So we don’t support Kleenex (we stock other brands of tissue) and we’ll not be using any of K-C’s other products including Kotex, Scott, and Cottonelle.

 

• Tea, please! Our tea station—at your service for either solace or energy—is complete with a tea bag compost and paper recycling.

 

• “Hey! Who turned the lights off?” We did. Lighting accounts for nearly 50% of the electricity used in most schools. So outside class and office hours, all lights at the studio are turned off

 

• Did you know that electrical devices continue to devour energy even when they’re not on? All of our machines and lights are unplugged and put to rest at the end of each day.

 

Thanks for caring as much as we do! Here are some ways you can help, too:

 

• When pre-treating your fabric in the washing machine, make sure you’re running a full load. A full load is no water wasted!

 

• Tired of your old duds? Don’t throw them away. Get crafty and make them funkier than before with a pair of scissors, some embellishments, and a creative mind. Have you tried our T-shirt Reconstruction Feature Workshop? (No Bedazzler required.)

 

• After you’ve used only one side of a piece of paper, don’t throw it away. Save it blank side up and staple stacks of them together to make a scratch pad for to-dos or phone messages.