January 2024 - Zero Waste Patterns

Welcome to 2024 Pattern Tuesday!

It is so nice to be back. This year Pattern Tuesday will look a little different, rather than providing an exhaustive list of patterns, we will focus on a handful of not so known patterns, pattern designers and different pattern forms.

To kick things off, January is Zero Waste Patterns!

January 17th    Zero Waste Pattern Designers

January 24th    Zero Waste Pattern Books

January 31st     Patterns with Zero Waste Elements

Zero waste production was conceived within garment manufacturing, where more than 92 million tons of textile waste is produced per year, primarily due to inefficient pattern making processes. By using the zero waste pattern technique, 100% of the textile/fabric can be used, eliminating fabric waste. With home sewers becoming more aware of their environmental footprint, zero waste patterns have become more accessible to the home sewer over the past few years, gaining momentum in 2023.

When people hear zero waste patterns, they think boxy, ill fitted garments, typically formed of rectangles and sharp lines. Zero waste pattern design does not eliminate curves, instead it carefully designs them to function over a number of pattern elements, eliminating blank space. I hope by the end of this month you will be excited to try zero waste patterns (or even design one yourself).