6 Ways to wear a tunic dress

A Year of Zero Waste Sewing is now published, and I thought I’d show you some ways to wear one of the patterns in the book, the pleated top (which can also be made as a dress like I’ve done here). This pattern is still available on its own for the bargain price of $5AU…

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Publishing Day! A Year of Zero Waste Sewing

Today is publishing day for A Year of Zero Waste Sewing, a book I started two years ago and experimentally published in instalments as zines. It’s now a proper book. It explores zero waste patterncutting concepts, making clothes for longevity, my own opinionated thoughts on various sewing topics, and stories from zero waste designers. Fashion…

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Crafting a Book: A Year of Zero Waste Sewing

Things are coming together as A Year of Zero Waste Sewing moves towards becoming a book. I thought I’d use this post to share the process of independently publishing a book. 10 years ago, I was determined I would never self-publish, but now I’m a convert! If you have something to write about, it’s never…

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How to adjust a zero waste pattern

It’s not always easy to do an adjustment on a zero waste sewing pattern. This is because the whole cutting layout IS the pattern, and the shared cutting lines mean that if you change one piece, the pieces around it will be affected. There can be a hesitancy to make alterations because “it won’t be…

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Sleeves, 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…

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Cutting 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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September and October: A Year of Zero Waste Sewing

Hi Everyone, A Year of Zero Waste Sewing – A year of exploration, making and musings on zero waste patterns and clothes is a book project I started nearly 2 years ago (Mr H says it should be called TWO Years of Zero Waste Sewing). I’m experimentally publishing the book in instalments as zines. The…

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Thoughts on zero waste bias cutting

The bias cut slip dress/pinafore I started last week is practically finished. To re-cap, I’m exploring bias cut & zero waste for the September instalment of A Year of Zero Waste Sewing, a book I’m publishing as zines. I tried out some ideas I had using the slip dress pattern from Birgitta Helmersson’s new book,…

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Bias-cut, tweed and Birgitta Helmersson’s zero waste slip dress

The bias-cut fun continues here at Haywood Homestead, in spite of the recent failed bias-cut slip. This time I’m experimenting with creating bias fabric and then cutting a zero waste pattern from it. The pattern I’m using is Birgitta Helmersson’s slip dress from her new book Zero Waste Patterns. The added catch is I’m using…

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A Skirt for All Seasons: Ways to Wear a Bryer Skirt

This month I introduced a new pattern, the zero waste Bryer skirt. This pattern comes in 20 sizes, to fit an 86cm/34″ hips to a 183cm/72″. It has generous pockets, an option for back waist elastic, and the length can be changed. The pattern is in my shop now – please enjoy 25% off. I…

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