Making Cris Wood’s Cinch Belt

Cris Wood is an American pattern designer known for her beginner-friendly, paperless, low-waste patterns. Her most well-known pattern is the Envelope Dress – on Instagram, seemingly everyone in the USA was making one in the hot summer of 2020 lockdowns. I’ve never made one of her patterns (until now!) but have corresponded with her as…

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Love a Cardi! Making the Eccles Cardigan

The Eccles Cardigan is a free zero waste pattern by Emily Handler of Empty Hanger patterns. It’s a “wardrobe staple” style, with a classic crew neckline, and long or 3/4 sleeves. Eccles comes as part of a collection of other free zw patterns, with an option to pay for them (recommended). It comes in 17…

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The Handiness of a Tiny Pincushion, with Free Pattern

Sharp-eyed readers may notice some similarities between the covers of the books I’ve done: they all have sewing tools on the cover, and some tools feature on all three covers. In particular, The Dressmaker’s Companion and Zero Waste Sewing have a round blue pincushion (the free pattern for which is here). I was very keen…

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Presenting the Zero Waste Bra Pattern

Here’s the pattern for the zero waste bra I’ve been working on. The previous posts about this project are: June 2021 when I thought I could make a bra; this led to a zero waste bra in one size but I put the project aside; then I picked it up again some weeks ago; last…

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Free pattern: Oven Mitt (minimal waste)

Finally! Allow me to unveil the pattern for the kitchen accessory of the year. Presenting…the minimal waste oven mitt. Streamlined, glamorous, modern and yet functional, it has restored domestic harmony to the Haywood kitchen and could do the same for you. I’ve been using it for the past week and I think I’ve found my…

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Free pattern: water bottle holder

This pattern appeared in my newsletter a few years ago, and the ones we made have been so spectacularly useful that I thought I’d share it as a blog post. I made them with my children, and they’ve taken them on school camps, on walks, to swimming and on their bikes. My children made their…

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Making a zero waste bra

Last week I shared my bra-making exploits which led to trying to make a zero waste bra pattern. The prototype got worn this week. The fit was fine and the pattern works – Yay! There were some problems to report though: I used an elastic that was too rough next to the skin and I…

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Brrrr! A sundress in June

Sundress in June

Yep, it’s a bit chilly for sundress wearing here in southern Australia, but I made this dress as a Sew together for Summer Instagram sewing challenge. Obviously the theme works better for the Northern Hemisphere! The idea is to sew a sundress and post a photo using #sewtogetherforsummer. If you also use #s21entry, you could…

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Revisiting the zero waste underpants

New zero waste undies cut out

I’ve been thinking about the zero waste underpants I made last week from Zero Waste Wardrobe’s free pattern. Since then, some others have tried the pattern. Donna-in-the-comments made some in swimwear fabric. She left the legs unhemmed and cut a conventional gusset from a different fabric. @duckgoesoink made a beautiful red pair with lace trim.…

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Zero Waste Underpants

Zero Waste Underpants

Yep, on the weekend I made a pair of zero waste underpants. The pattern is by Zero Waste Wardrobe; it’s a free pattern that’s part of a personal design project by clothing and costume designer Saara Jolkkonen. The mission of the project is to provide a free (creative commons licensed) collection of zero waste patterns…

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