April 2023
STILL working on that pattern...
Hi Everyone,
Welcome to the April newsletter, and a very warm welcome if you’re a new subscriber.
Well, I’ve never spent so long on a pattern, and it’s still not ready! I started it almost a year ago (then stopped and started again). But it will be worth it - all going well it should be finished in about 2 weeks time.
It’s a Peter Pan collared blouse with tucks and pockets. There are 20 sizes, to fit a 32"/81cm bust to a 70”/178cm.
There’s also a dress version. The blouse is actually low waste, and the dress is zero waste. Both have great pockets! I look forward to showing you more in the next newsletter.
Interesting thing I’ve observed: Peter Pan collars are a definite Yay or Nay - either one wears them or one doesn’t!
Some things you might enjoy
Lots of things this month…
Can fashion ever be sustainable? A discussion on ABC radio (audio only; 19mins)
The Kebaya, a blouse worn in South-East Asia, is being nominated to join Unesco's Intangible Heritage List for 2023.
In 1949, LIFE magazine did a fashion shoot of dime store fashions.
Ida Holdgreve, the first female to work in the American Aviation Industry, answered an ad that read “plain sewing wanted”, but it was a typo - the Wright brothers wanted someone to do “plane sewing”.
The world's first commercial-scale textile recycling mill, in Sweden.
A report on the Fall 2023 fashion collections, which show smart put-together outfits that feel "finished", with barely a sneaker in sight.
Andrea of @jemedesfils on Instagram remodelled a one seam jacket made from the Zero Waste Sewing book. The original jacket is shown here, with Andrea making a paper model of it first. Later, Andrea swapped the zip for buttons and changed the sleeves - the remodelled version is here.
Conserving a silver tissue dress that's 360 years old at Hampton Court Palace. (5mins)
Trade catalogues, including some fashion ones, from the 1880s, digitized by the Museums of History in New South Wales.
Styling colour for knitwear shoots. So interesting and some wonderful colour palettes.
Tessellating patterns are something I use often in zero waste patterns - it’s a pattern that interlocks and repeats infinitely. Lately, a tessellating shape which never repeats has been discovered.
And Aussies….
30 miniature quilts are on display in Melbourne, 13-16 April.
The annual Knit-Spin-Weave fibre craft retreat is on April 28th-30th at Hummocks Station near Snowtown in South Australia. I went to the inaugural one and again last year. It’s very reasonably priced and a lot of fun.
On the blog lately
A roundup of the past month’s blog posts from my website, lizhaywood.com.au.
Feel free to subscribe to my blog for weekly posts direct to your inbox, however, if you don’t need more emails in your life, I always do a roundup here.
Let the Bra Making Commence! The story continues with the quest for a zero waste bra pattern.
Presenting the Zero Waste Bra Pattern. A free Creative Commons experimental pattern. (While not the world’s first zero waste bra pattern, is this the world’s first multi-sized one?)
How I came to write the Zero Waste Sewing book. This book has just turned 3, and I indulge in some reminiscences of writing it and Publishing Day.
Haywood’s Hierarchy of Mending and Clothes Use. A very short post with my thoughts on mending and how textiles should pass through a household.
From the blog archives
The Secret Science of Invisible Mending, where I attempt to invisibly mend a hole in a jacket’s sleeve.
Cheers!
Liz x