Mountain Mist Creates Eco-Friendly Quilt Batting
It seems everyone is going green these days. Although you wouldn’t think of a quilter as unfriendly to the earth some of the products used may be. If you use polyester batting you are using a product made from petroleum that is the same stuff you put in the gas tank of your car. You can find more about how polyester is made at answers.com. Also, cotton is a lush natural fiber but is hard on the land it grows on and farmers tend to use harsh pesticides to guarantee a good crop. Many statistics can be found at the Organic Trade Association.
Mountain Mist may have an answer to this. They are producing eco-friendly products under the brand eco craft. They are using a product called PLA which comes from corn. They have details on their website. There are 2 battings you can choose from: one that is 100% PLA or one that is 50% PLA and 50% cotton. I picked up samples at the Spring International Quilt Show. The cotton blend has a nice feel to it and retains it shape when I pull on it. The 100% PLA is airy and see-through and feels much like polyester. Mountain Mist also produces batting and pillow forms with the PLA.
I haven’t found the batting in the stores yet although Joann’s is supposed to carry it and I did check their website and it was not there either. I am anxious to give it a try. The samples I have are 2 - 4″ squares which are a little hard to give it a good test drive. Mountain Mist is having a Crafting A Better Planet™ Quilt Competition where you must make a quilt using all natural products.
I am not saying that quilters everywhere switch to this product but it does give us a guardians of the planet something to think about. Of course this product is still brand new and the real benefit to the environment is yet to be seen. For many quilters the real value of this product is not just the environment friendly aspect but how will it quilt. I’m sure many of you will give it a try. Please drop a line here and let us know how it does.
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