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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Discovering Halston’s bias cuts

A beautiful book I ordered on Halston (at great expense to the management) arrived during the week. I’m too young, and lived in the wrong country, to remember Halston’s fashions. I was a child in the swingin’ 70s, spending much of it on an actual swing. I phoned Mum to ask if she remembered fashions…

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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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Bias cut failure

Friends, it’s only right on this blog to show you some of the things that don’t work out, lest you think I’m some sort of patternmaking genius who nails everything first time every time. Last week I started working on the September instalment of A Year of Zero Waste Sewing, which will discuss bias cut.…

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Xanthea as a Dress: Free Pattern Update

It’s been a long time brewing, but finally I’ve nailed a dress version of the very popular Xanthea top. Xanthea is a zero waste, bias cut t-shirt for wovens or knits. It comes in 19 sizes, to fit up to a 117cm/70″ bust, and it’s very economical on fabric. It has a long sleeve option,…

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Book review: Bias Cut Blueprints

Book Review Bias Cut Blueprints

Looking for a new adventure in sewing?  You might enjoy Bias Cut Blueprints. This book contains a method for making different garments of any size cut on the bias.  You create a bias cut tube following the book’s directions, and transform it into a dress, top or skirt.  The book explains many neckline, sleeve and…

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