October 2025
The start of The Prom Dress Era, library books, zero waste news, and some links you'll enjoy
Hi Everyone!
Welcome to the October newsletter, and a warm hello to new subscribers.
Oh joy of joys! The Prom Dress Era has started in our household. We had a few brief years of dress-ups wilderness after the Book Week Costume Era finished, but now we’re back, baby!
Big discussions were had on a dress for an upcoming high school dance. Teen found a dress she liked online and wanted to order it. Me: No, you cannot buy it. I guarantee you’ll be disappointed. Don’t you think it’s odd that an identical dress is $200 on some websites and $39 on others? I tell you, it isn’t going to fit like the picture.
Instead, I bought some fabric and set to work. I’m not sure my teens have ever really grasped what I did before they were born, or what I’m capable of. They occasionally make comments like “You’re so fast at ironing, Mum” or “Gee, I didn’t know you had this (dress/jacket/perfect shirt) in your wardrobe”…..but, really, do we ever understand our parent’s world?
It took a couple of weekends of sewing, but the dress turned out great and she was very happy.
The best part: she insisted on having pockets in it, so I sewed two deep in-seam pockets in the skirt, which pleased me as much as her.
Some great library books
Prompted by a book review by Dr T Designs of How to Dress Your Best, I placed it on hold at our library. While I was doing that, the library website offered other similar book suggestions, so I borrowed them all. They all arrived on the same day!
Clockwise from top left:
Dress Like a Parisian by Aloïs Guinut. This book was my unexpected pick of the pile. It’s a styling advice book for nearly any item you can think of: leopard print, graphic tees, body con dresses, flat shoes, belts, fluid fabrics, and all the basics such as jeans, shirts, coats, cardis etc. Nonchalant, understated chic alongside attitude, boldness and colour.
Indul-gent - The complete style guide for the modern man by Jeff Lack. There was much hilarity in the library when Mr H collected these books, especially this one. Was he planning to overhaul his personal style? But beyond this book’s man buns and sockless shoes, it gives an excellent overview of what to wear for any occasion. There’s an importance placed on grooming habits, gentlemanly manners and being confident. This would be a good book for young guys. The book has some interviews with stylish men.
The Dior Style Principles - Be inspired, transform how you dress by Hannah Rogers. Ten styling themes (prints, waistlines, skirt lengths, to name a few) are discussed in detail with reference to Dior past and present. Even if you’re already familiar with the life of Christian Dior, you will find it interesting. There are lookbook photographs on almost every page.
How to Wear Everything - A no-nonsense guide to dressing by Kay Barron. This is a beautiful book, very cleanly designed. The fashion director author’s styling advice is surprisingly safe (capsule wardrobe: white T, white shirt, LBD, black polo neck, jeans, tailored trousers, blazer, trench, all in neutrals). She is not a lover of colour or print, but has guest essays from those who are. I did enjoy the writing style; it’s rather like a fashion version of Nigella Lawson.
How to Dress your Best - Discover your style and curate a wardrobe that actually works by Ellie-Jean Royden. This book is quite different from the others. It’s almost like a workbook, where you reflect and do activities towards finding your style and the colours, shapes and fabrics that suit you. Although the cover looks 80s/90s, it was published last year. I think this book would be fun to work through alongside Me-Made-May.
In zero waste news…
Lots of nice news to report this month.
The Manduka Yoga Unwasted CAS collection is the culmination of 1.5 years of hard work dedicated to reducing waste in the design and production process. It’s the first large scale zero waste collection that has successfully made it to market. This four piece collection highlights functional seaming that was engineered to allow the pattern pieces to nest together perfectly, eliminating 95-100% of waste. They were able to improve marker efficiency by 12% and reduce waste by 16% across all styles. They also used digital pattern making tools including itsclo3d in order to reduce sampling and ensure a great fit. See a few snippets from behind the scenes here and here.
A podcast interview with zero waste designer Saskia Baur Schmid of Hyph_n in Victoria, Australia.
Cassandra Belanger and Danielle Elsener are offering an online Clo3D for Zero Waste Design Workshop, from 30th October to 8th December. Very reasonably priced at $125. Recorded for those who aren’t able to attend during the allotted time. Details and sign up are HERE.
French speakers: a 10 week minimal waste design course, from 6th October (that’s TODAY!) to 15th December hosted by Mylène L’Orguilloux. €550 including tax; discount for students. Details and sign up are HERE.
Some things you might enjoy
The Antique Pattern Library has scans of out-of-copyright public domain books, available for free download. The aim of the project is to preserve these books and therefore our craft heritage. There are a variety of crafts, and books in languages other than English. The sewing section contains old dressmaking courses, instructions for making English smocks, how to make a one-hour dress, Make & Mend for Victory, sewing for babies, and lots more.
An interview with Leila Kelleher, “Fat Fashion” pioneer, co-owner of Muna & Broad sewing patterns, and author of the first patternmaking book for plus-size women.
Feel like going down a rabbit hole? A website with information of traditional clothes of Europe and more.
A short illustrated essay on the geometry of Asian trousers, by Penelope Woolfitt.
Insights about adaptive apparel for left-handed wearers (as in, only the left hand). As Michael J Fox said: “The people living with the condition are the experts”.
Could repairs be part of how brands grow in the future? The United Repair Centre in Amsterdam and London partners with brands to offer repair services. Customers log repairs online or in store, items are fixed and returned, and brands get data on where products fail so future designs are stronger. Additionally, The United Repair Academy trains people to repair, specifically inviting those without formal education and employment to apply, and guaranteeing them jobs on completion.
Was body positivity “just a trend”? Cutting the Curve, a 10 minute video on plus sizes in modelling and fashion.
Clare Valley friends: The Clare show is on the 18th Oct and entries are open now.
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.
Introducing Billy, a zero waste toy kit designed by Meg Mader and myself.
A trio of posts devoted to the zero waste Chinese trousers in Max Tilke’s book Costume Patterns and Designs: 1. cutting out and sewing a pair, 2. finishing them off, and then 3. trying the other trousers illustrated on the same page.
From the blog archives
It’s almost exactly five years since I visited the farm of Aussie woolgrower and sheep breeder Allen Kelly. We talked about the pandemic, mulesing, sheep care, chemical use and sustainability. He’s since told me that their farm collects even more data on sheep now.
Cheers,
Liz x
Ditto. The prom dress you made looked beautiful on your daughter! 🤩 I also had the honor & joy of making my daughter’s prom dress using a pattern she chose & fabrics we picked out together. And I LOVE the added pockets (added only one pocket for my daughter’s dress). So useful.
On the genre of style books, I recommend Kendall Farr “The Pocket Stylist” because it has a clear delineation of style and fit. I would love more people to make their clothes but also am realistic that there will be many who are not going to do that but need to be better informed about the process of making and fitting clothes and I think this book is helpful.