Yarn Dyed Linen Zero Waste Gathered Top

I have been intrigued by zero waste sewing patterns for some time now and there seem to be more of them available lately. I recently updated my list of Independent Sewing Pattern Designers to include a number of companies who have zero waste patterns if you'd like to explore. The idea of a zero waste garment is that it uses up every little bit of the fabric you have, using clever tessellating pattern pieces to leave you without even a tiny scrap left over. I'm always quite careful when buying fabric to not buy more than I need and often lay out the pattern pieces prior to purchase to figure out how little I can get it out of as pattern designers often over estimate to avoid disappointment. Despite this I still end up with large amounts of unusable awkward shaped and sized scraps which I never know what to do with in an environmentally responsible manner. A lot of work and resources go into the making of every single piece of fabric so shouldn't we do our best to use and not waste every single scrap?

The designer I have been particularly drawn to is Birgitta Helmersson who sells zero waste clothing as well as the digital patterns for some of her designs. I love the aesthetic of her designs and the patterns felt quite accessible. I've also seen some gorgeous versions of the ZW Gather Dress and ZW Cropped Shirt on Instagram. This here is the ZW Gather Dress hacked into a top.

Looking at the different cutting plans for the three pattern hacks included with the pattern actually taught me a lot about the creativity and problem solving that goes into zero waste cutting. I opted to use the gathered sleeve hack which involves omitting the side seam pockets to enable you to increase the width of the sleeve and add a band to finish the cuff. Seeing how the pattern cutting layout changed for the different hacks really helped me to understand what is possible on a simple level with rectangular shapes. For example you could also omit the side seam pockets to increase the width of the sleeve and use patch pockets instead.

I've had this beautiful yarn dyed linen (originally from The Fabric Store) in my stash for a while now. I've had various ideas for it but when I was rummaging through for something to suit this project it seemed like the ideal candidate. However, I only had 2m and this dress requires 2.6m. I carefully looked over the cutting plan for the pattern to see if there was anything I could do to make it work and ultimately decided to make the longest dress I could with the fabric I had. This meant a dress 30cm shorter than intended. Unfortunately, once sewn up it was just a fraction too short for me to be comfortable in. The billowing nature of this dress means it moves around a lot while you walk and there was too much potential for flashing! I did think about using a tiny hem instead of the deep hem the pattern has but the neckband piece is then not long enough as it is cut at the same length as the dress, then the extra band you need to get around the back of the neck is accounted for by the deep hem. Instead I decided to turn it into a top which I now absolutely adore! Obviously cutting a chunk off the hem no longer makes it zero-waste but at least I have a bit useable rectangle and no little annoying scraps to throw out. If you'd like to make the top version without wasting anything this top used exactly 1.5m of fabric.

My yarn dyed linen has stripes which you will noticed are nowhere near matched. Zero waste pattern cutting prescribes where each pattern piece has to be cut in order to use all the fabric and therefore you can't move your pattern pieces about to match the pattern. Pattern matching can actually create an awful lot of fabric waste, particularly when attempting to match a large print. Not matching the stripes on this doesn't bother me at all as I'm not particularly fussed about pattern matching unless it is a really obvious bold stripe or check.

One thing you will notice about this dress is that it is a VERY oversized style. I could quite literally take 4" out of each side seam and it would still be roomy! But I kind of love it...If we get a hot summer I will definitely be making more versions in the dress length to swan about in. When making the dress I probably would reduce the width of it slightly...but then of course it might not be zero waste. What I'd need to do to avoid wastage is use a fabric which is narrower to begin with. The width of this dress hinges entirely on the width of the fabric you start with. The pattern has only two sizes (I made the smaller which covers UK sizes 8-16) and it does state that you can use fabrics from 135cm to 155cm wide. My linen was 140cm wide so on the lower end of that but it is still big! I would suggest that if you are on the smaller end of the size range you can definitely get away with even narrower fabric.

As the top is so roomy I sewed the buttons on directly through both layers and the closed button holes as I'll never need them to function to get it on and off. The little wooden buttons are also from my stash and the label is from The Craftivist Collective. The linen has a crispness and body that gives this style great volume and shape. I love the wearable drama of it. Many of the versions I've seen have been sewn up in linen or cotton but I also like the idea of making this in a fluid and drapey Tencel or viscose for a completely different effect. However, I think making it in this type of fabric would be more challenging as the crispness of the linen made it easy to draw the shapes directly on to the fabric and sew it up accurately.

Despite being drawn directly onto the fabric using the measurements in the instructions there are still notches to follow and the garment comes together very smoothly and easily. The most time consuming part is certainly the gathering. The instructions are fairly thorough with hand drawn illustrations and some different constructions techniques that definitely feel a little more commercial than home sewing. The instructions reminded me a little bit of Tessuti patterns which I like as they usually get me to try something new.

This pattern is mainly based around square and rectangular shaped which are obviously fairly straightforward to tesselate together to use up all the fabric. However, doing a bit of reading into the subject has made me aware of much more complex curved and spiral shaped pattern pieces which can also be zero waste. Mind boggling! This pattern eases you in to the zero waste thought process with a couple of curved and small pieces cut away from the neckline which are added back into the garment as facings. 

The neckline facing serves a bit of a purpose (as well as being decorative) as it reinforces that edge and also gives you a place to insert a label. The two triangular pieces cut away from the front neckline are inserted into the side seams just above the hem which is a purely decorative feature. I really like this unique little touch and it opened my mind to the creative thinking involved in making a pattern zero waste. Every tiny scrap of fabric is incorporated into this dress. You don't even trim or grade any seam allowances. Inserting the side seam facings was the one step of the instructions that I did get confused about and I had to refer to the handy photographed tutorial on the Birgitta Helmersson website to make sense of it. There are a handful of other tutorials on there as well as additional pattern hacks.

I feel like making this encouraged me to drop a lot of my traditional thinking about sewing and construction and go with the flow, joining flat pieces of fabric together to make a three dimensional garment. I REALLY enjoyed it. It felt really freeing and reminded me of working on pattern's from Rosie's book 'No Patterns Needed'. The patterns in that book aren't zero waste but are constructed out of geometric shapes that you measure out directly on to the fabric. The deep v tunic in there is constructed out of rectangles and is one of my most worn garments to date. I made this top 5 years ago when I was less comfortable in my sewing skills. At that time the lack of pattern pieces made me a little panicked but this time around, now I understand garment construction better it was really liberating! I'm keen to try more zero waste patterns - do you have any you would recommend?

Floral Challis Tudor Blouse

This is another slightly spontaneous sewing project which wasn't initially on my plans for summer. I don't usually have a tendency to jump on a pattern the instant it is released. I'm one of those sewers who likes to sit back and see it made in a few different fabrics and on a few different body shapes first. Particularly when it is a pattern from a company I haven't used before. However, I've been totally sucked into the square neck with big sleeves trend of this summer and when Stitch Witch Patterns released the Tudor Blouse I knew it was for me! It felt slightly more accessible as a way to dip my toe into the trend rather than a full on dramatic dress. Plus I'd identified that I needed some more tops to go with the high waisted skirts and trousers in my wardrobe.

Vintage Rose Rayon Kalle Shirt Hack

I can't remember which image I saw that inspired this top. I possibly spied it on Pinterest or while I was scrolling through Instagram. All I can remember is that I couldn't find a sewing pattern for it! Again I'd limited my options by wanting to make it last minute before holiday so it had to be a PDF download but it sort of surprised me as I felt sure I'd seen many boxy little button up tops with v-necks around. Anyway, admitting defeat I turned to my pattern stash to see what I could use as a starting point.

The closest to the vision in my head was the Kalle Shirt & Shirtdress from Closet Case Patterns. I've made a maxi length version of this before which incidentally I also wore a lot on holiday and got a lot of compliments on! This time around I started with the cropped length of the pattern and I cut the size 8 as before. I'm sort of between the 6 and 8 on my top half and could probably stand to go down to the smaller size but I'm happy with the relaxed look of this. It sits nicely across the shoulders and doesn't shift about.

My first pattern hacking step was the lengthen the shirt by 5cm using the lengthen/shorten lines on the pattern. I decided to do this after seeing Lauren's version and liking how that added bit of length looked. I wanted to have the option to tuck the top in to high waisted bottoms which I now can. I also reduced the size of the centre back pleat in the same way as Lauren by shifting the pattern piece over the edge of the fold of the fabric by 1". This is a really easy way to reduce the roominess of the top without sizing down and potentially ruining the fit across the shoulders.

Next to create the v-neck I set aside the centre front placket, collar and stand pattern pieces and drew a straight line on my front pattern piece from the edge of the neckline at the shoulder down to the centre front. I used a pattern piece from the Sutton Blouse as a guideline for how deep to go. I think I could have got away with a couple of inches deeper as this is quite modest but very wearable! I then drafted a facing for the new neckline and centre front by tracing the shape of the front edge from the front pattern piece and making it 2" wide (including 5/8" seam allowance) all the way along. The back of the neckline remained the same shape and would now be finished using the yoke so there was no need to draft a facing for that.

When constructing this new neckline and centre front finish I first attached the facings along the centre front, under-stitched them and pressed them back to the wrong side. I then attached the back of the top to the front following the burrito method in the instructions. This means the whole front including the facings is sandwiched between the yoke pieces giving a clean finish. When 'burritoing' the yoke and front together sewing the shoulder seams I continued right the way along the back neckline, sewing the two yoke pieces together wrong sides together. I then turned the top to the right side through an armhole opening and the back neckline was finished neatly along with the shoulder seams. I wasn't 100% sure it would work (sometimes these trial and error methods of bagging out have resulted in a tangled loop of fabric!) but luckily it did and I'm so pleased with the clean interior finish.

Rayon and viscose are my absolute favourite type of fabric to wear; it so perfectly suits a whole variety of garments. It is not that easy to come by in good wearable prints so whenever I see it in a print or solid colour that I love I can't resist it and my stash has been growing! I've been adding the solid colour rayon crepes from The Fabric Store to my orders for a little while now and have a nice array of them in my stash. I tend to order just a metre or metre and a half as I see them all as little sleeveless tops or camis but recently I've been drawn to various styles of big billowing sleeves which require rather more fabric...Anyway for this top I decided to use the vintage rose colour, of which I had a metre and thought was a nice modern neutral to pair with other garments.

Rayon crepe like this can be a little shifty to work with particularly when cutting. I often cut it out on carpet rather than a smooth table surface or wooden floor as it has a little grip to keep it in place. To help keep everything on grain when you lay your pattern pieces out I often pin the selvedges together - if you're working on carpet you can even pin into it! Working with a rotary cutter can also help cut accurately as cutting with sheers lifts the fabric off the cutting surface slightly and can distort your pattern pieces. When sewing up be careful not to stretch it out and make sure to stay-stitch where required. Use lots of fine pins and keep your pins within the seam allowance if possible so as not to mark your delicate fabric.

As the fabric was only 126cm wide and I had only one metre I had to play pattern piece tetris and omit the sleeve cuffs from the original pattern. This was a design choice I was considering anyway and I'm pleased with the resulting look. I only had teeny scraps of fabric left when I finished cutting. I could have chosen to leave off the hem facing and chose an alternative finishing method but I love the dramatic curve of the hemline which is only possible because of that facing. A regular turned and stitched hem which wouldn't work around such tight corners and a rolled hem wouldn't give the same weight and structure as the facing which emphasises the shape.

I've been trying to use buttons from my button box rather than buying new as I have so many. There were a few I tried out and I was initially after a more organic natural looking button but these one out in the end as they tie in tonally with the pink very nicely. Size wise they're spot on. I love a statement button. As I can just about get the neckline over my head without unfastening the top I faked the buttonholes. I love the automatic buttonhole function on my machine (the Brother Innov-is F420). However it creates such beautiful buttonholes I can hardly bear to cut them open! For these I sewed the buttonholes on the machine (so quick and easy!) then hand sewed the button on top, right through both layers.

This weight of rayon crepe is perfect for this oversized style of top, it hangs well without clinging and has beautiful movement. I can see me making a few more of these perhaps with different shaped necklines, a square hem and with sleeve cuffs to use up some of those small cuts of viscose lurking in my fabric hamper. Plenty of time to sew at the moment anyway. Stay safe and healthy everyone.

Printed Rayon Crepe Roscoe Blouse

I've lost my motivation for sewing and blogging since I returned from my travels. Initially partly because of jet lag and a post holiday cold and then partly because of being so busy with work. Usually when I'm so busy I'll find 30 minutes here and there to work on something but what I really needed to kickstart my sewjo again was a good chunk of sewing time. I finally managed to carve out a few hours last weekend after a little cutting time one evening in the week and luckily had picked just the project to get my creative juices flowing again.

This Roscoe Blouse from True Bias was an absolute dream to sew. It caused me no trouble but has some interesting little details which were nice to get absorbed in. I even enjoyed my least favourite sewing task (gathering), of which this blouse has plenty! It feels like it comes together really quickly because of the lovely raglan sleeves, which are always much quicker than setting in a traditional sleeve.

Breeze showing off the volume and movement of the top!

This is the blouse version of the pattern, which also has a tunic and midi length. I'm planning a midi length version next which I think I'll wear belted. I love Kelli's sense of style and find it difficult to resist many of her patterns. I don't know why it has taken me so long to sew this one when it so perfectly nails that cross between easy to wear bohemian and sleek contemporary style. I cut the size 4 (which matches my bust and waist size for reference) and it does feel quite voluminous on my fairly petite frame and I'm wondering if I would have benefitted from sizing down or perhaps shortened it a little to balance out the proportions better. But I am really enjoying the slightly longer length paired with skinny jeans. It is equally as great tucked into my favourite high waisted trousers, my first pair of Megan Nielsen Flint Pants which are easily the most worn handmade garment in my wardrobe.

The finishing techniques are well thought out and I really liked the way the neckline slit is cleaning faced to begin with and then the ties are added within the binding. This neckline slit is actually the only thing I might change on my next version as it feels quite deep on me and can be a little exposing as it moves around! I feel like I need to tie the the bow up tight to close the slit whereas I'd quite like to leave it loose or open. I can't see that anyone else has been plagued by a similar issue so it could be  because I'm quite short in the body, particularly the upper chest so next time I'll shorten the slit by an inch or so for modesty.

The sleeve length and width of cuff is great. They have enough drama but yet don't get in the way as they finish mid forearm and the opening is big enough to push up above the elbow if needs be. I love the sleeves on my Dove Blouse but sometimes they are not the most practical! They have a habit of turning off my touch sensitive electric hob while I'm stirring a pot!

I've never been a huge fan of stitching in the ditch which is how the bound edge of the neckline and cuffs are finished so I opted to edge-stitch my binding. I was in the mood for not pushing myself too hard and using techniques I knew I could get to turn out well! I think this still looks really neat and tidy and am pleased with the results, inside and out. If I was making myself a luxury version of this top in a delicate silk I'd definitely turn to Kelli's suggestion in the instructions to hand stitch these areas.

My fabric is from The Fabric Store who have a gorgeous collection of viscose/rayon prints and colours at the moment. I was originally going to use this mustard part diamond print for this project. Unfortunately there wasn't enough of it left when I placed my order but I actually think this worked out for the best. While the mustard would have been glorious and very seventies (Debbie made an amazing two piece cami and skirt set out of it) I'd have to be in the right mood to wear such a dramatic bold blouse and I think this slightly more subtle print is more 'me' and be worn on a more regular basis. I was drawn to this five dot rayon crepe as my back up choice because of the unique block printed style. Each motif has a slightly uneven density of print which gives a hand painted look to the fabric but it is in fact screen printed. The navy is nice and rich and the motifs just the right size for garment sewing. I like that the colours are quite neutral and easy to wear; the finished top works so well with many other garments in my wardrobe and is going to be easy to style year round.

I ordered 2 metres as the fabric requirements in the pattern suggested I would need it but I could have got away with less of a fabric this wide. I probably could have squeezed it out of 1m50 but would get 1m 70cm to be on the safe side. A lightweight viscose/rayon is perfect for this pattern because it is quite diaphanous and moves beautifully. The volume of this style requires a lightweight fabric with drape and movement. The gathering will look thick and puffy in anything too substantial and you want the fabric to flow around the body rather than stick out in a boxy fashion.

I didn't realise until I had finished this how much I needed tops like this in my wardrobe. Tops which can be both dressy or casual depending on how you style them or which worked tucked into high waisted trousers and skirts or loose over a slimmer leg. I love it. I can see a summer of shorts, skirts and boho blouses coming right up!