I have been aware of zero waste patterns for a little while, but it’s been a vague on the edge of my consciousness type of awareness.  I was aware of Holly McQuillan‘s work. Then I came across Liz Hayward‘s zero waste patterns and book.  I had bought the Elbe Textiles Maynard Dress pattern (it’s still on my to-sew list).  Not long after that, Instagram seemed to be full of Cris Wood‘s zero waste patterns.  Then I listened to a podcast focused on zero waste patterns.  Zero and low waste sewing isn’t a new thing – it’s been around for as long as people have made garments from limited quantities of precious fabrics. The Japanese Kimono pops straight into my head as an example, and you can probably think of many more. Do a quick google and you’ll be guided down a fascinating path of the history of zero waste and how the approach is used for modern garments.

Zero waste patterns obviously appeal when you’ve got a precious fabric that you really don’t want to muck up! This printed rayon was bought in Kuching, Borneo. I used the Cris Wood Envelope Dress instructions with the gathered sleeve from the Hack Pack.

These patterns are customised to your own measurements. They’re a set of instructions rather than providing pattern pieces – this dress is entirely made from rectangles. How much fabric you need depends on your measurements and the style that you choose to make. I had enough fabric to make the gathered sleeve version, so that’s what I did!

These clothesline photos really show you how simple the overall shapes are. Front:

And back:

It’s easy to think ‘oh that’s just rectangles, why do I need to buy a pattern’? Well, I figure that it’s worth buying a pattern because the designer has done all the maths to get the size and proportions of each rectangle correct. In my experience, simple shapes actually require quite a bit of work to get right!

It’s the way that the flat rectangles drape over the three-dimensional human shape that make the dress interesting. It’s not hard to vary the neckline depth to suit your preferences. The positioning of the shoulder seams and neckline opening mean that the dress raises up at the centre front hemline, and sits back a bit at the shoulders.

I’ve seen lots of versions of this pattern on Instagram in particular. Length variations, belted, different sleeves; and on a variety of shapes and sizes. If you like ‘sack’ style garments (which I clearly do; fitted is not my scene) this pattern is worth checking out.

Since I sewed this back in January I’ve used another Cris Wood pattern, the Parasol dress, and I have some other zero waste garments planned from Liz Hayward’s book.