Week 39 Little Perrin Angel

Admittedly, I have not used very many paper patterns since this zero-waste project began. I think I quickly came to the conclusion that the fewer cuts I made in the material, the more efficient the design could be. 

So the goal this week was to "play around" with three zero-waste sewing techniques as applied to more traditional, home sewn garment construction.  

1. Pattern positioning. 

By taking the time to play around with the pattern pieces like they are pieces of a puzzle, it is possible to greatly reduce the amount of fabric waste produced once all the pieces are cut out. Bias, grain lines and tabs are sacrificed in exchange for waste reduction, but it is surprising how well the various lines can match up, as shown in the photo above. 

2. Reverse manipulation.  

This is a combination of reverse engineering and fabric manipulation. Essentially, by applying fabric manipulation techniques, a piece of fabric can be "shrunk" to the correct size, replicating a pattern piece. This can be dramatically varied to incorporate just a small amount of extra fabric or a large amount. In either case, the extra fabric is worked into the garment, rather than throw away. 

3. Embellishing

 

For the final bits and pieces that remain, it's an opportunity to get extra creative and use them to embellish the garment. In this case, these remaining pieces were in pairs. Creating little angel wings was a natural step given the shape of the off cuts. Sewing all the layers together with a star, gave them that little extra "something special" and added some additional dimension to the romper. 

In addition to the above zero-waste techniques, I incorporated a couple of other Eco friendly options.  The bodice of this romper is "up cycled" from a toddler shirt. As well, the length of the pants can be adjusted multiple times with sewn in growth hems. I've seen this technique in outerwear and it includes a line of stitches, that once removed, adds additional lenght to the garment for a growing child. 

Special thanks to sweet Perrin for modeling this outfit this week. 

 

I am that I am.