Absolutely 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…

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Progress 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…

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10 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…

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New 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…

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Jacket 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),…

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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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Making Nancy Zieman’s bias spiral

While I was writing the September zine (on bias cut) for A Year of Zero Waste Sewing (see last week’s post), I chanced across some nifty ideas, including Nancy Zieman’s bias spiral method. It turns a rectangle into a bias tube with a point at each end. The late Nancy Zieman had a long-running TV…

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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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It’s back! Making Zen FREE online retreat

It’s been a quiet past 6 days here at Haywood Homestead, after we lost all Internet and phone services – it’s just been restored today. However, it’s been a very creative time without the distraction of Instagram and emails, and a little part of me is sorry to let that go! On the subject of…

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