On a recent visit to one of the LQS I talked with the owner who informed me that the U.S. no longer grows cotton for fabric. Her comment was that it is all grown and processed in China. I told her that I thought the U.S. was still growing cotton in the South to which she replied, "yes, but it is not fabric grade cotton." Like a lot of other things, there must be different grades and qualities.

I know that bamboo can be grown in U.S. because I have seen it and also read that it is hard to control once it has been planted. Does the U.S. harvest and produce "cotton" from any bamboo grown in this country? Just curious?

June in Cincinnati

Bamboo takes way too much water to grow. I checked into growing it. To label it green for production of fabric is a MIS-interpretation of reality. I will always support cotton. Bamboo reed does make decorative fencing quite nicely because it lasts a very long time.

I know that bamboo can be grown in U.S. because I have seen it and also read that it is hard to control once it has been planted. Does the U.S. harvest and produce "cotton" from any bamboo grown in this country? Just curious?
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As a nursery family member I can tell you about the growing part..I found out the hard way. There are about two kinds of Bamboo, ranging from a couple of inches to OMG!! The clumping kind is where you put out a cute little plant and watch it grow, and soon cute little ones come up all around Mamma and in their own turn have cute little bamboo shoots growing up around them.

Then there's the running kind. You put out a cute little plant and watch it grow, and soon, one day you hear your neighbor down the block screaming about where in h%#@ did that D!@# bamboo plant come from that is in his lawn. That is the time for you to quickly dig up YOUR bamboo, hurriedly throw it away so no one will know you had it and in a few days YOU can be the one screaming about that D!@# bamboo plant coming up in your front lawn!!

My DH made me put mine in a pot and built me a rolling flat to keep it on so it wouldn't root in our planter beds. Finally gave it to my brother who did not listen to any advice and would up with a bamboo forest that almost prevented any sight of his house from the road. Had to be poisoned to get rid of it.

And, did you know there is yarn made out of bamboo, hemp, silk, soy and sugarcane! To be honest I haven't seen sugarcane fabric but I did buy some sugarcane yarn as a gift for a friend and it had a lot of silk yarn properties. I bought it because she loves to knit with unusual things and I wanted to get her something exotic that I knew she'd never used before. She loved it!

http://www.yarn.com/webs-knitting-cr...-fiber-exotic/

I did purchase a bamboo batting at a show last spring. I think it worked OK, but I still like cotton the best. Used my Hobby Lobby coupon last week for a roll of cotton batting. 40% savings and will have batting for a LONG time.

This has gotten to be very educational. Thanks to all of you for sharing your knowledge with us. I am sure many of us will not go so far as to research this subject. This is exactly
what makes this Board the biggest and best among information board. We start out with sewing and quilting and before we know it, we are researching how our fabrics are made, all the way down to the plant from which it is grown.

You guys are MAAAR-VELOUS!

June in Cincinnati

I agree with everything you said Bellaboo not only that but this replacement stuff is going to be very expensive and at 2 of our local quilt shops they do not carry bamboo quilt batting as they said to expensive and it does not hold up like cotton in the washing I have not tried it but going by what I was told

I have yarn that is made out of bamboo and its fantastic, feels and works just like cotton yarn.

A quilter friend told me that after a few washes a quilt made with bamboo batting starts to make a crinkly noise.

I made 3 quilts using Bamboo batting. I love the way it drapes and it is light but much warmer than cotton and gives more definition to the quilting. With the continued failure of foreign crops, 3 years in a row, we must look to other replacements. I favor hemp as a material. I don't know the problems but they are trying to use the rice leaf as a replacement for fabrics. Cotton destroys the natural minerals in the earth. It does not give back and you are supposed to alternate crops to replenish the soil but most growers do not. They try adding the chemicals and keep on growing. We must stop destroying our planet.