Everyone's making a better effort to go green these days, so we thought CME had better follow suit! As sewers, we're already resourceful people. But it's important to always find new ways to reduce our carbon footprint and lead a greener, cleaner life. We need to change the way we think and sew to help save the environment (and our pocketbooks). To help encourage you to sew greener, I'm bringing you the first ever "green"-inspired issue of CME.

By now, I'm sure you all carry cloth bags to the supermarket (bags that you’ve made and embellished with embroidery). If not, get some fabric out of your stash, stitch two rectangles together, add some ribbon or fabric handles and embroider your heart out! Check out the new CME Go Green design collection (at cmemag.com), and choose from 10 cute designs to embellish your new bag. Embroidery is a way to make a statement, and the message or symbol you stitch on your bag is sure to inspire others to go green too.

Cloth bags are only a start. Try adding another green practice to your routine each month. Carpool to the fabric store; plug your computer and embroidery machine into a smart power strip; swap your light bulbs with energy-efficient models; purchase biodegradable trash bags (visit ecoproducts.com); and, as always, recycle, recycle, recycle!

Unfortunately we weren't able to print the issue on recycled paper, but we encourage you to recycle the magazine by passing it on to a friend, doctor's office or recycling bin when you’re finished with it.

Have a green day,

Ellen

Appeared in:

March/April 2009