Posts by lizhaywood
Finished! A Year of Zero Waste Sewing: November and December
Yesterday afternoon I finished the final instalment of what’s turned out to be a two-year project, A Year of Zero Waste Sewing. It’s a book I’m experimentally publishing in instalments as zines. Each zine comes as a file to print out at home (it prints out on 3 double-sided pieces of paper, which are folded…
Read MoreFREE sewing library bookplate
Do you have a library of sewing books at home? I’m guessing that you do. I sure do! Sewing books have been on my mind lately, as I’ve been considering the front and back sections of A Year of Zero Waste Sewing (at this stage I haven’t quite finished the November and December instalments, but…
Read MoreGetting closure on the denim jacket
This blog post has been two weeks in the making – I was thwarted by an electrical storm last week which took out our modem and phone line. But after services were restored and I was ready to hit publish, Mr H happened to see it and said he didn’t like what I’d done with…
Read MoreAbsolutely riveting: re-using jeans pockets
The jacket I’m making from old jeans now has pockets unpicked off one of the original pairs. (Are you also making a jacket from jeans? The previous posts are here and then here.) I’ve had lots of useful advice for re-using the jeans pockets; thank you for all the ideas. The two big issues were…
Read MoreProgress report: denim jacket
A couple of weeks ago I began making a jacket out of denim jeans. The jeans had been rejected by the opshop and I used 3 pairs. The jacket is my sew-a-long project for Zero and Zen, a course I’m co-presenting with Kate Ward. I’ve since started the sashiko stitching which is going across the…
Read More10 DIY Present Ideas
It’s coming up to that time of Christmas and end-of-year gift giving. The truly organised will have started present-planning back in June or July, but that isn’t most people! If you’re planning to make gifts, here are 10 ideas: 1. Water bottle holder (free pattern) The pattern and instructions are here. Make one from a…
Read MoreNew zero waste pattern: Optimatium dress
Hi Everyone! I have a new zero waste pattern. Introducing the Optimatium dress. The pattern is in Tauko magazine, Issue #9. The theme of the magazine’s issue is Blue. My take on the theme was “Blue can be conservative, in a good way”, and Optimatium is a conservative dress. Optimatium is Latin for conservative or…
Read MoreJacket Making for Zero and Zen
During the week I started sewing a jacket as my project for Zero and Zen, an online course that artist Kate Ward and I are offering. We offered this course last year and it was very popular; it combines sewing a modular jacket (with me) with learning to stitch various sashiko stitch patterns (with Kate),…
Read MoreSleeves, Triangles, and the Arc T-Shirt
Last week’s post had (I thought) satisfied the head-scratching on using triangles as sleeves. But was it “correct”? Here’s a quick re-cap: This is how I thought the sleeves might be formed: Here it is tried in fabric, full-scale. It works OK, although I’m not sure how to control the width of the sleeve for…
Read MoreCutting zero waste sleeves from triangles
Zero waste sleeves have been on my radar lately. Sleeves were the theme of the newly-published September zine for A Year of Zero Waste Sewing, and I looked through lots of new and old sleeve ideas while writing it. Of course I turned to the influential and significant Zero Waste Fashion Design to see what…
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