October 2023
Zines, Zero and Zen, and some links you'll enjoy
Hi Everyone!
Welcome to the October newsletter, and a special hello to new subscribers.
Well, I finally finished the September and October zines for A Year of Zero Waste Sewing, a book project I’m experimentally publishing as zines. (January is free here, if you want to take a look.)
You can read more about September and October here. September has a bias cut sewing pattern in it.
The November zine is finished and with the editors.
Here’s what I’ve been working on for December (theme: pleats in zero waste). Below is a mind-blowing pleating technique devised by origami artist Chris K Palmer. I came across it in Complete Pleats by Paul Jackson, and more information is in the book Shadowfolds by Chris K Palmer and Jeffrey Rutzky.
These pleats are formed on a single uncut piece of fabric. I’m currently trying to incorporate them into a garment (zero waste, in a range of sizes, with instructions to fit on 6 x A5 zine pages - still getting there with it.).
December should be finished before or during the actual month of December (I’ve finally caught up to the calendar months!).
So…am I on track to publish A Year of Zero Waste Sewing as a proper book before Christmas? Maybe. Not sure. Probably not. I’d say no. Probably January.
Mainly because I won’t be able to get books from the printers after October-ish (because of their Christmas orders), not even proofs, and there’s little point in publishing if no-one can get copies.
Also, I’ve fallen in a bit of a hole with Long Covid lately – I’m back to daytime sleeps with lots of little lie-downs in between. My teen said I looked “cr*p-er than usual” (harsh, but she’s right). I’ve been self-managing for the past 16 months and last week got a referral to a Long Covid clinic - I realise I need help with it. Probably shouldn’t have gone for so long without getting help, but I thought I might be better by now.
Clare Show
Sewing friends in South Australia’s Clare Valley: the Clare show is coming up on Saturday 14th of October. Is anyone free to help set up the dressmaking exhibits after they’ve been judged? (I would seriously love to do this job but I can’t - I wouldn’t last.) You would need to be there on the 14th, from 8am to 11am or noon. If you can help, please hit reply to the newsletter email and I’ll give you the contact details.
Zero and Zen
Artist Kate Ward and I are collaborating to again bring you Zero and Zen. This course combines sewing a modular jacket (with me) with learning to stitch various sashiko stitch patterns (with Kate). The course will be released on 20th of October and consists of on-demand sewing modules to watch at your convenience, and 3 Zoom Q&A sessions where we’ll meet to discuss our progress. The Zoom sessions are 3rd/4th Nov, 17th/18th Nov and 1st/2nd Dec. The cost is US$97.
We offered this course last year and it was very popular, and fun to sew-a-long together. I made a grey jacket cut from an army blanket, and Kate cut up old jeans to make a denim one. We both had a lot of fun with the stitching!
A sashiko stitched jacket would make a beautiful Christmas present for a very lucky someone, or maybe be a present to yourself to continue stitching during the holiday/New Year break.
Some things you might enjoy
Apparently, fast fashion and glitter have fallen out of favour at UK music festivals.
German designer Nils Hauser is the winner of the Redress Design Award 2023, the world's largest competition for sustainable fashion design.
A look inside a couture Chanel suit worn by Lauren Bacall. (10:30mins)
How does a split skirt work? It’s clever!
“The Zero Waste 18th Century Skirt that always fits” (16:22mins). Simple, beginner-friendly, customizable, patternless and versatile.
Have you heard of The Hemline Index? (The what?) It's a theory that hemlines in fashion are linked to stock prices.
Faces created out of crumpled clothes. My children loved these!
A lovely article on Allan Brown’s dress woven from nettles.
Wow! Non-worn out bits of knitted jumpers mashed with blazers.
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.
Slipper Rescue, where I mended a pair of reindeer slippers and now they’re even better than new. I’ve been wearing them and wishing I’d done it earlier.
The Making Zen Online Retreat has been and gone, but you can put yourself on the mailing list for the next one.
Introducing the September and October zines for A Year of Zero Waste Sewing.
Making Nancy Zieman’s bias spiral. File this one away!
From the blog archives
The last time I wore my wedding dress.
Cheers!
Liz x
I love your work, and I love your links. Feel better soon!
Sorry to hear your long covid is flaring, Liz! Hope you're able to find some strategies that help from the clinic.