Introducing...lovebugknits!

Shop Name: Lovebugknits

A little about you: I was an elementary school teacher for 5 years, now I am a stay at home mom to two little ones. I started to knit in 2004 and I have been in love with it ever since. Besides knitting I love to cook, crochet, camp, and skydive. Right now my kids are my life, so all that other stuff comes second. I find the time to knit during nap time and after the kids go to bed.

A little about your products: I custom make all my hats from organic cotton. I never follow someone else’s pattern, I have created all my own patterns and designs. When I started my business I wanted to make unique custom items for little ones. I decided to use organic cotton because I wanted my business to reflect my eco-friendly lifestyle and values.


What about the organic mission inspires you? I try to live a natural lifestyle. So I am very excited about the new green movement and everything it involves. Living naturally is very important not just for our environment but for our own health as well. The amount of organic choices that are surfacing is wonderful. I just hope that as my children grow, organic becomes the way of life and that conventional growing methods are a thing of the past.

What's your current project: Currently I am working on creating some knit toys and a couple of sweaters for my kids.

Where your products can be found: lovebugknits.etsy.com and lovebugknits.com

Blog: lovebugknits.blogspot.com

Introducing...shecological!

Shop Name: shecological

A little about you: My name is Sheila Clancy. I started Shecological about 2 years ago after trying to find a bag for myself that would be functional and chic enough to carry when I traveled around Europe. I have been sewing my whole life and I have never been able to follow instructions. I like to design, create, break the rules and see where the materials lead me. I studied printmaking, natural dying and various other fiber arts. I love to travel and have lived in London and Australia.
A little about your products: I make bags of various shapes and sizes. The emphasis is on fun style, functional construction (lots of pockets) and earth friendly materials and practices. I get inspiration from the Arts and Crafts Movement, Japanese culture, high fashion and the natural fibers that I work with.

What about the organic mission inspires you?: I have always been and environmentalist and into organic food and natural dyes and home products so it was perfect to do organic bags. I love the feel and smell of the raw cotton and other natural fabrics. I really want to see ALL fabric grown, produced and used with organic processes in my lifetime.
What's your current project: I am mixing organic cotton and cotton/hemp fabrics with my stash of printed fabrics to make limited edition and ooak bags. I am always working on new screen prints. I have a load of organic t-shirts that I haven't gotten to. I also plan to dye some of my raw fabrics with natural dyes. (And I am going to start learning Japanese this fall!)

Where your products can be found: Right now, I only sell locally and on etsy.

Blog, Etc.: I want to start a blog with all my work and travel stories but I am still learning internet savvy. I am up on flickr!

Introducing...ecoleeko!

Shop Name: ecoleeko

A little about ecoleeko: Went to school for textile design, Living in Upstate NY, dealing with a historic house, raising chickens, gardening, stacking wood and Making dolls while dancing to 80s music..nice!

A little about your products: All are Hand made made of Eco friendly materials like organic cotton/hemp and bamboo fleece. I make plush dolls and soft baby rattles along with some bath mittens. I hand dye and print all fabrics to make them colorful and fun, then stitch with organic cotton thread. I only use all natural fillings such as kapok fiber and buckwheat hulls.

What about the organic mission inspires you?: Just feeling good that I am offering a great product made from all natural materials and I'm having fun doing it.

What's your current project: Currently working on learning to do wholesale, marketing and possibly designing some new toys more for boys..might bring in my husband to help.
Where your products can be found: at ecoleeko.etsy.com of course, and my website at www.ecoleeko.com..They are also sold at some stores now..yeah!

Blog: www.ecoleeko.com/blog

Introducing...GreenWorks!

Shop Name: GreenWorks

A little about GreenWorks: There are 2 of us in GreenWorks. I'm Maura and my partner is Edijs. We both come up with idea's for designs but Edijs is the artist. He also makes the screens up but we both do the printing and I handle all the admin type work.

A little about your products: We source good quality hemp and organic cotton clothing and silk screnprint our designs onto them.


Aside from quality there are other criteria that the supplier has to meet:

• Organic certification
• FairTrade certification (or who can demonstrate that they trade ethically and fairly)
• Ethical in their business practises (eg investments)
• Local - this last one is difficult for us as there are no local Irish suppliers but we try to source as close to home as possible to minimize the environmental footprint from shipping.

When it comes to creating the designs and printing we use the latest technology - otherwise known as an ironing board to print on! lol The fabric inks we use are the most eco friendly inks available and most of the frames are old picture frames from second hand/thrift shops.

Typically we print new designs on a few different types of clothing but the bulk of our printing is custom orders. We like it that way as it's less wasteful and more personal.

What about the organic mission inspires you? Everything! We're lucky to have a great organic farmers market locally and for anyone who needs convincing that organic is better - just taste the difference. Then think how about what you've just ingested wasn't laden with pesticides. In the same way that we care about what we eat and drink we believe the clothes we wear, the personal care preparations we put on our skin, laundry and cleaning materials etc should be as pure and uncontainated as possible.

Our take on Organic is that it's about being good to the planet, the people on it and ourselves.

What's your current project: I'm re-learning sewing and have a number of recycled sewing projects I want to complete. We still have some selt belt materials that we plan to transform into wall art. Painting, trashion style creations, mosaic, making recycled paper and dying techniques are all in progress. The difficulty is getting time to complete these.- but there are great plans and idea's which would translate into another shop with the emphasis on recycling.

Where your products can be found: greenworks.etsy.com

We also have a website though it's not being used yet as it will house our own collection of hemp and organic clothing - some day! www.nuorganics.com

We also sell some of our own products but also resell fair trade and organic at www.allthingsgreen.net

Etc.: Only when the last tree has been cut down; Only when the last river has been poisoned; Only when the last fish has been caught; Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten. Cree Indian Proverb

More organic goodness!

Some new treasuries

Here are some more lovely treasuries!