Posts Tagged ‘patternmaking’
Finished! Optimatium Denim Coat
This past week I’ve been busy sewing a coat version of the Optimatium dress. The Optimatium dress is a zero waste pattern which appeared in Tauko magazine last year, and is now a pdf pattern in extended sizes. The pattern is in my shop – please enjoy 25% off until June 26th. For the coat,…
Read MoreOptimatium in Denim (Part 1)
A conversation with my tech editor last week, combined with the happenstance of surplus-to-requirements denim in the house, let to cutting out a denim Optimatium pattern on the weekend. The Optimatium dress is a zero waste pattern which appeared in Tauko magazine last year, and is now a pdf pattern in extended sizes. The pattern…
Read MoreOn Designing a Zero Waste Hat
The Making Zen Online Retreat is coming up at the end of this month (it’s free – register here and read more). I’m presenting a sew-a-long for a low waste sunhat. The idea of a zero waste hat has been rolling around in my mind for the past year+, and I’d planned to talk about…
Read MoreRevisiting the Boho Dress
The boho dress is a pattern in the Zero Waste Sewing book. I made this pattern in 2018, only a couple of years into my zero waste adventures. The dress is a good example of using tessellations for zero waste, as the single pattern piece is top-and-tailed to nest perfectly together with itself. It has…
Read MoreNew Pattern! The Near-Zero Waste Sunhat
Friends, it’s my pleasure to announce a new pattern that I’ve been chasing for over a year. It’s a sunhat with less than 5% waste. You’ll be able to try this pattern for FREE, as I’m presenting it at the Making Zen Online Retreat, 27th-31st May. Register HERE (this is an affiliate link). Along with…
Read MorePublishing Day! A Year of Zero Waste Sewing
Today is publishing day for A Year of Zero Waste Sewing, a book I started two years ago and experimentally published in instalments as zines. It’s now a proper book. It explores zero waste patterncutting concepts, making clothes for longevity, my own opinionated thoughts on various sewing topics, and stories from zero waste designers. Fashion…
Read MoreCrafting a Book: A Year of Zero Waste Sewing
Things are coming together as A Year of Zero Waste Sewing moves towards becoming a book. I thought I’d use this post to share the process of independently publishing a book. 10 years ago, I was determined I would never self-publish, but now I’m a convert! If you have something to write about, it’s never…
Read MoreHow to adjust a zero waste pattern
It’s not always easy to do an adjustment on a zero waste sewing pattern. This is because the whole cutting layout IS the pattern, and the shared cutting lines mean that if you change one piece, the pieces around it will be affected. There can be a hesitancy to make alterations because “it won’t be…
Read MoreFinished! A Year of Zero Waste Sewing: November and December
Yesterday afternoon I finished the final instalment of what’s turned out to be a two-year project, A Year of Zero Waste Sewing. It’s a book I’m experimentally publishing in instalments as zines. Each zine comes as a file to print out at home (it prints out on 3 double-sided pieces of paper, which are folded…
Read MoreSleeves, 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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