August 2025
Thoughts on everyday design, the Louvre Beret pattern, zero waste news, and some links you'll enjoy
Hi Everyone!
Welcome to the August newsletter, and a warm hello to new subscribers.
I think about design quite a lot. Not really iconic design or famous design (although I think about that too); more like the kind of unsung everyday design that makes life easier.
Do you have things at home that make you think Oh, bless the person who designed this! every time you use it? I do.
Left: our mesh laundry bags have a piece of elastic at the end of the zip to hide the zip pull so it doesn’t snag clothes. Sure, they could have used fabric, but elastic!! So easy! Who thought of this brilliant idea??
Middle: the heels of my black rubber boots have a little lip to help take them off with the opposite foot. My newer, more comfortable, red rubber boots don’t have this, and I miss it.
Right: to the person who added hand-hold cutouts to the flaps of this cardboard box, I silently thank you every time I move it.
None of these things add much (if anything) to the cost of manufacture, and certainly we can use mesh laundry bags, rubber boots and cardboard boxes without them, but it’s the tiny details that make something a pleasure to use.
New pattern: Louvre Beret
The Louvre Beret is a new pattern which is in TAUKO magazine, Issue 16: Architecture. Order a copy of the magazine here, or a pdf pattern of just the beret here.
I’m so thrilled with this pattern!
It comes in seven sizes, to fit a 52-54-56-58-60-62-64cm head, and can be made in a variety of fabrics. You can read more about this beret here, and a bit of behind the scenes of how it appeared in the magazine.
This pattern has a sewing guide on YouTube. At the beginning I give a little fashion parade of berets so you can see the fit and fabric.
In zero waste news…
Zero waste sewing workshops. UK friends: Tony R (of season #9 The Great British Sewing Bee) is hosting sewing workshops including some zero waste ones.
Online zero waste fashion design masterclass. Emma of emroce swimwear, the world’s first zero waste swimwear brand, is hosting her annual online zero waste fashion design class. It’s this coming Friday, August 8th, 8am-11am New Zealand time, tickets $40, only 20 places, get your tickets here. These opportunities don’t come often.
Clo3D for zero waste design. Danielle Elsener of DECODE and Cassandra Belanger of The Stitchery Studio are planning a Clo3D for Zero Waste Design course sometime later this year. Register your interest here.
Sleeves for the pleated top. Do you have the book A Year of Zero Waste Sewing or the December zine, and have wanted to add sleeves to the pleated top? Some free instructions have been thoughtfully written by @kana.e36 and can be found here.
Some things you might enjoy
The famous YSL Modrian dress turns 60.
Could you spend a week without seeing yourself (and your outfits) in a mirror? Would it change how you dressed?
The Back to Back Wool Challenge in Australia. Teams have to shear a sheep, spin the wool and knit a jumper in the shortest amount of time.
Looking for some good sewing-related reading material? Here are 100 sewing blogs and websites (I'm at #47. Has the sewing blog world gotten so small that I'm now in the top 100?) There's also a list of 15 Aussie sewing blogs here.
A demonstration of the Chinese trousers from Max Tilke's book Costume Patterns and Designs.
Do you like seeing old guys in great clothes? I saw Michael Slocum’s tartan suit in this short doco on his post box restoration project, and his Instagram page has more fab gear.
A book for the Christmas list: The Handsewn Wardrobe, by Louisa Owen Sonstroem. Her first book, Hand Sewing Clothing: A Guide, which I have, is a really excellent reference for hand sewing clothes. See inside both books here.
An interview with Cho Sang-kyung, a costume designer for K-dramas. So interesting to hear how she obtains military uniforms.
Behold a research room stuffed full of beautiful blouses at Bunka Fashion College in Japan.
A forum thread on clothing patterns based on rectangles - shirts, trousers, smocks, tunics and links to interesting things.
Is this a first? A wheelchair mannequin in shop.
Clare Valley friends: The 6th Clare Valley Festival of the Lamb is coming up on 17-21 September 2025, with some great events. Fashion designer Nikki Atkinson is one of the speakers (register here). Visual and fibre artists are invited to enter the textile and art prize. Also, don’t forget the Clare show on the 18th Oct! Exhibit entries open on the 1st of September.
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.
The Bias Shift top, a new zw pattern from Goldfinch Textile Studio. It’s as comfy as a t-shirt, but much smarter looking. Here’s six ways to style it.
The Louvre Beret, and behind the scenes with Tauko magazine.
From the blog archives
Slipper Rescue. Have you ever mended something, and then discovered that the mended version is far superior to the original? Two years later I can report that the slippers are still going strong.
Cheers,
Liz x
I share your enthusiasm for design ingenuity and regularly forget to look at myself in the mirror, haha!
I always enjoy your round up posts because you find such interesting links. Got a lot to read now, thank you!
What struck me most about that top 100 sewing blogs list is how few of them are personal sewing journals whereas I think the same list 15 years ago would have been dominated by that style of blog.