Posts by lizhaywood
May 4th: Star Wars Day
As I idly flipped the calendar over for May, my eyes wandered to May 4th: Star Wars Day. I’d never heard of it. Was it a day to remember Ronnie Reagan’s “Star Wars” strategic defense initiative, that had me designing nuclear fallout shelters in the covers of my school books back in the 1980’s? Or…
Read MoreFree pattern: wraparound skirt
Hello All, Here’s a pattern for a 6-gore wraparound skirt. It has a generous wrap and is very suitable for one-way prints. It would also look good in a plain fabric with topstitched seams. If you’ve never drafted a pattern before, this is a good one to start with because it’s straight forward and easy-fitting. …
Read MoreBlast from the Past: PVC clothing
During the school holidays, my daughter and I thought we’d make a pencil case from a pattern in a children’s activity book. The pencil case is shaped like a shark with a clever zippered opening for the mouth. We searched around for some suitable fabric, and I remembered I had some silver PVC fabric offcuts…
Read MoreAn Autumn Outfit
As curling columns of smoke and the buzz of chainsaws announce the settling of autumn in our part of the world, I sat outside and sewed a skirt to go with last week’s Japanese cardigan. It’s my own basic A-line skirt I’ve used several times before. It has a waist facing, centre back invisible zip,…
Read MoreThe Japanese cardigan
An intriguing construction and silhouette motivated me to make this cardigan from the Japanese pattern book She Wears the Pants by Yuko Takada. The title suggests a book of trouser patterns, but it’s translated from She Wears Mannish Style and features mainly tops and pants with an androgynous “menswear for women” look. I liked the…
Read MoreThe curse of the elastic waist
Dear Friends, have you ever made something that deep down you knew wasn’t ideal but secretly you hoped would work out? Like, for example, an elastic waisted skirt? I made myself an elastic waisted skirt to wear last summer; I wore it only once. It was a foolish notion for someone who doesn’t really have…
Read MoreYarn magazine issue 41: All laced up
Issue 41 of Yarn magazine came out this month, featuring my article on designing your own lace with a companion project, the leaf and caterpillar scarf (it’s the orange scarf on the cover). I used the project as the design example in the article. The scarf was returned to me last week, just in time…
Read MoreLike or loathe it: tailors chalk
I would say that most home sew-ers don’t use much tailors chalk, because generally we use paper patterns that are pinned to the fabric, not cardboard patterns that need tracing around. I would also say that most home sew-ers don’t like using tailors chalk, mainly because it’s hard to get a fine line. There are…
Read MoreLet’s play Lego!
For some time now I’ve been meaning to make a Lego play mat. The ideas is you play with Lego sitting on a circle of fabric, then when it’s time to pack up you push the Lego into the middle and the fabric becomes the holder. I had sort of imagined loops of fabric around…
Read More“Flo-Jo of the Pool” cuts a dash at carnival!
Do you remember Florence Joyner? She was a US athletics star of the 1980’s. Part of her fame was her long painted fingernails and figure-hugging flamboyant athletics outfits. She favoured fluro and bright colours, one-legged leggings (ie- one leg bare), big hair, hooded leotards and bold jewellery. It goes without saying that you need to…
Read More