It was reduce, reuse and recycle week at the Sewing Bee!
I was really pleased to see this theme for the Sewing Bee last week. It’s easy to generate a lot of waste when creating things, but there are things we can do to make sure we create consciously. Have a look at our article on sustainable crafting for some ideas.
We’ve also collected a few zero waste sewing patterns for you in this article – read on to the bottom for pattern ideas!
Pattern challenge
The first challenge for Episode 4 featured drawstring, zero waste trousers from ‘deadstock’ fabric (fabric which designers bought, then didn’t use). Unlike cutting out a typical sewing pattern, you don’t waste any fabric from between the pattern pieces – there are no pattern pieces with a zero waste design! The idea is that you start with a specific width of fabric, which you then need to apply the pieces to, based on mathematical proportions.
Mia carefully pieced her pattern together, sewing her rounded pockets neatly, whereas Matthew found it tricky to get his pockets to have a neat curve. The judges described Asmaa’s trousers as ‘extremely well made’, which won her the challenge.
Transformation challenge
As Sarah pointed out, recycling is all about transformation! This week’s challenge was transforming tote bags into a top – the judges wanted to see creative use of colours and patterns. They’d get extra credit for using as much of the bag as possible in a creative way.
The judges thought Lizzie’s allotment jacket was ‘extremely well constructed’ and enjoyed the graphic prints. It was a close call, but Asmaa also won this challenge – the placement of colours was excellent, and she’d used various different parts of the bags in her construction.
Made to measure
The sewists were tasked with making an outfit from second hand crochet blankets – they sourced them from charity shops so they’re each one of kind! Crochet proved to be a difficult fabric, both due to unusual stretching and also because it could unravel easily.
Mia’s collared jacket did well – she interfaced the whole piece, and hand-finished the edges with with crochet. Lizzie’s red voluminous jacket was impactful and the judges loved how well it was finished. Ultimately, the elegant lines and fabric choice won Mia garment of the week.
Sadly we had to say goodbye to Matthew – he ran out of time to finish his dress well. Patrick said it was a shame he was heading home, and described him as one of the most creative contestants. Matthew said he was pleased he was able to be himself on the show and to have provided more representation. I loved watching Matthew’s journey.
Want to try zero waste sewing? Here are some pattern ideas!
Number one for me HAS to be the Zero Waste Gather Dress by Birgitta Helmersson. This design has been so thoughtfully created, and made in the thousands by this point! (I’ve made three versions myself).
This zero waste robe tutorial from Elbe Textiles also looks like great fun! Another option would be to create a patchwork version, sewing together all of your scraps from previous projects.
If you’d like a smaller project, how about this zero waste utility bag? It looks so effective, and useful!
Thanks for stopping by, see you next week!
Lorna
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