August 2023

Last days for 25% off Bryer skirt pattern, support your local fabric or yarn shop, and lots of zero waste news

Hi Everyone!

A warm welcome to the August newsletter, and a special hello to new subscribers.

If I were going to see the Barbie movie, with dress-ups (and was inclined to drive the 5 hour round-trip to the cinema), this is what I could wear:

The pink skirt is the Bryer skirt, my new pattern.

If you’re planning to order this pattern, the 25% off discount finishes this week on August 3rd, so please take the opportunity.

Some lovely examples have popped up “in the wild”:

Top row: Ronda of @anakiequilter used yellow checks (the skirt has since had botanical embroidery added); a beaut long and short one from Chris of @gallopingcat.

Bottom row: GB of @gioiaisme made a very versatile black one; Sue Stoney used vintage corduroy and wrote a blog post about it.

A skirt for all seasons, Bryer comes in 20 sizes, to fit an 86cm/34″ hips to a 183cm/72″. It has two generous pockets which form the skirt’s closure, comes in two lengths, and has an option for back adjustable elastic.

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Support your local fabric or yarn shop

You may not hear it from them (until they close down), but small independent fabric and yarn shops are doing it tough.  I wholesale books to these shops and many are struggling. 

There are lots of ways to support them besides actually buying things: write them a review, share photos of them on social media, recommend them to friends, "like, comment and share" their social media posts, sign up for their newsletter, or do your gift shopping there.  Shopping at small businesses directly supports them and their families, as well as suppliers like me.  If you happen to also be a business, consider a collaboration that will benefit you both. 

Our local yarn shop owner, Tracy of Knit-Spin-Weave, is aiming to monetize her YouTube channel.  The channel has knitting & crochet patterns and tips - go on, give her a Like and Subscribe.  It won't cost you anything but will help keep a small business going.

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In zero waste news…

I'm interviewed on Threads and Needles, a French blog/forum, about zero waste patterns.  It's in French, so you may need a translate tool.  (I don't speak French this well!  I did it in English and they translated it). There’s an accompanying review of the zero waste culottes.

Did you watch The Great British Sewing Bee? They used a zero waste trousers pattern in their Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Week. 

Decathlon, the world's largest sports retailer, is looking for a geometry researcher to support the use of tessellation as a creative tool for building  zero waste design systems.  Maybe you know someone? The job advert is here.

Australia is working towards a Standard for compostable clothes. This is a Big Deal - without it, brands making compostable clothes cannot show that clothes can compost safely. While there are global standards for compostability, this is specifically for compostable textiles, believed to be a world first.

Will AI be the future of generating zero waste patterns? Shelly Xu Designs is working on it and is mentioned in an article in Harvard Business Review.  (Will AI make me obsolete?)

Two zero waste designers to take a look at:

LyndenTree in Canada

Andeiro in Portugal

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Some things you might enjoy

The Australian Dress Register is a collaborative, online project about dress with Australian provenance.

Interesting idea: Japan Airlines is encouraging customers to rent clothes from them instead of taking lots of baggage when they fly.

A Threads article on popular sewing projects to sell. Ironically, it appears that the way to make money is to actually stop sewing and pay someone else to do it, while you spend all your time on social media.

Summer dressing: ways to wear khaki-on-khaki, white-on-white and gingham-on-gingham.

Take a look at these sewing zines by Marilla Walker, and this one from Fiber shed.

From sketch to costume: an interview with Jacqueline Durran, costume designer for the Barbie movie.

Are you sewing Barbie clothes? Take a look at the Barbie doll clothes archives at the Shapes of Fabric blog.

Aussies:

The Start Your Local Fashion Business Workshop starts TOMORROW EVENING on Monday 31st July.  Sign up here. It's free, presented by a former colleague, Julia Van der Sommen.  Can't attend?  Visit her facebook page for weekly videos on local manufacturing.

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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.

New Pattern - introducing the zero waste Bryer skirt.

A gallery of ways to wear the Bryer skirt.

Tutorial: how to cut and sew a zero waste in-seam pocket.

Patternmaking failure: bias cut slip. (Btw, the missing sketchbook has since been found! Also, the bias cut slip has been abandoned for the time being, but not forever.)

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From the blog archives

I interviewed Aussie woolgrower Allen Kelly, and he welcomed any question with nothing off limits.  He talked about mulesing, pain relief for sheep, chemical use on farms, and more.

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Cheers!

Liz x

PS - Something very nice happened to me since I wrote last month’s newsletter, where I shared my 1 year anniversary of Long Covid: I did a 4-day fast, and my brain fog lifted and I had bit more energy. Of course, in my excitement I totally overdid it and had to rest! but it made a definite improvement and I’m hopeful for more. Many thanks for your kind emails about it.