New zero waste pattern: Clair Skirt

Hello All,

Introducing my new zero waste pattern: the Clair skirt.

This skirt pattern is for sale in my Etsy shop. Please enjoy 25% off for the month of July.

The Clair skirt + bag, hat or apron is zero waste; the offcuts from the skirt are used to sew an accessory. It’s an example of fabric use being spread across more than one item to achieve zero waste.

The skirt is designed for woven fabric and comes in 3 lengths. It has a back zip, waistband and good-sized side pocket. Yes, a pocket!

Suitable fabrics include denim, linen, cotton drill and wool gabardine in stripes, checks and plains. Stiff fabrics will yield a sculptural shaped skirt and soft fabrics will make a flowing skirt.

It also makes a great evening skirt in taffeta, dupion silk, brocade or firm delustred satin.

I’ve been wearing the samples to the gallery for the Zero Waste Fashion Exhibition on the weekends, and I love how I feel when I wear this skirt. I feel it adds a certain “edginess” to my wardrobe!

I’ve made this skirt in several different fabrics and lengths. (Once again, due to social distancing, I’m the model but hopefully I’ll be using different bodies in the near future.)

Here’s my favourite sample in lightweight wool tartan. This and the orange skirt in the post’s header are the medium length.

Here’s the short length in lightweight denim.

This is the long length in beautiful Lithuanian linen from The Drapery. Looking forward to wearing it with sandals and a white shirt this summer.

My original sample (long length) was in poly/cotton gingham:

The Clair skirt can be made to fit any size; it’s sized according to your waist measurement. As the skirt’s waist size gets larger, the length gets slightly shorter. For example, below is a skirt to fit a 108cm (42 1/2″) waist. It’s cut to the long length (as shown above in the gingham which has a 76cm/30″ waist) and it’s about 10cm shorter. The details for checking the finished length are in the pattern.

But wait, there’s more!

The offcuts from the skirt are transformed into either an apron, bag or hat.

The apron is the quickest and easiest project. It ties on around the waist. It can have a front pocket if you decide to omit the side pocket from the skirt.

The bag has a top zip, one outside pocket and handles made from herringbone twill tape.

The hat is a visor reminiscent of the 1970s. It ties on at the back and fits any head size. The soft crown fits well under a bicycle helmet. The seams are bound with bias binding, so it looks as good, if not better, worn inside out!

The format of this pattern is similar to the projects in Zero Waste Sewing and the free scrubs pattern. The pattern is drawn straight onto the fabric – there are no pattern pieces to print out and tape together. The instructions are in metric and imperial.

I hope you feel inspired to give it a go!

Cheers!