#zero waste pattern cutting

[learningnewstuff]

VIVA - GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART // MASTERS OF RESEARCH - DESIGN INNOVATION

A viva voce is a long-established part of the examination process for a research degree. The main focus of the assessment is on the written thesis/dissertation (and other outputs, for a Practice as Research students). However, the viva gives you the opportunity to defend your thesis and is used to inform the examiners’ final assessment decision.

Examiners // Dr Janet McDonnell: Professor of Design Studies at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, University of the Arts, London, UK & Dr Brian Dixon: Head of Belfast School of Art

AIM // The intention of this practice based research is to catalyze a critical turn in the sustainable fashion design field through the proposal of an inventive method for dealing with textile waste.

This proposal is realized through critical making and this study puts forward critical making as a method that can contribute to the mobilization of systems change within the fashion industry.

WHY? // Fashion is under scrutiny for its wastefulness – the current fashion system perpetuates continuous consumption driven by speed, change, planned obsolescence, artificial newness and aesthetic trends

The fashion industry is very slow to adopt more sustainable practices. barriers towards implementation for change exist with limited practical, viable and production-minded scalable examples of ways to shift forward within academic research as well as industry.

As design and consumption are inter-related – design can proactively influence and begin to realize this change.

HOW? // Holistically connecting the designer back towards the processes of manufacturing can open up a much-needed critical dialogue between designing and making where generative and constructive design-led insights can begin to unpack the complexities of fashion’s sustainability issues.

MAKING SPACE TAKING TIME // THE STUDIO

The process in which the study is undertaken is through the primacy of the studio process claiming that critical making is a constructive and generative process where visual and embodied links can be made that might otherwise be overlooked or unrealized through language-based approaches.

​​An investigation of PRACTICE AS RESEARCH is highlighted through an exploratory case study;  studio practice, drawings, assemblage and textile studies are used as tools that aid to synthesize, analyze and further develop new ways of thinking about the design making process.

CRITICAL MAKING acts as a means to connect our technologies with our lived experiences offering up social and conceptual critique of the assumptive making processes that we employ.

Matt Malpass (2017) Critical Design in Context

VISUAL ARTS KNOWING

Thinking in a Medium gives structure and physicality to the work in the studio,

Thinking in a Language frames the practice through reflective dialogue and

Thinking in a Context through embodied ways of making situates the practice to become research.

Graeme Sullivan (2009) Art Practice as Research

WHAT? // 1 + 1 = A Propositional Pattern Cutting System

1 + 1 is a zero-waste, negative-waste and additive pattern cutting and clothing design system that scales a single block shape into a variety of silhouettes by repeating and assembling that block shape to create the complete garment. The system can be used with regular lengths of new cloth, end rolls of fabric and textile waste materials.

SO WHAT??

Leading the design enquiry with a holistic view puts the waste up front and centre.

This way of designing encourages the designer to gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of the whole process pulling production back into the initial stages of design development.

The designer can be instrumental in determining how waste materials are used in the creation of the design through pattern cutting.

By creating a pattern that works within the constraints of waste material, the designer not only restricts the amount of resources used but also shapes the formation of the silhouette and the resulting outcome.

This process of making and un-making establishes a circular ethos that embodies an approach that places an emphasis on the criticality of message within its aesthetics and incorporates re-formation through a multiplicity of design in its function.

WHAT NOW?

Opening up the 1 + 1 Pattern Cutting System beyond the individual studio practice and extending its processes into a master class framework, a workshop format or through open source access would further promote a deeper engagement to reveal significant insights and critical feedback.

Such collective working sessions would setup a platform to increase the body of knowledge around the 1 + 1 system’s viability, transferability and scalability extending the research within the zero and negative-waste design and sustainable design fields.

The 1 + 1 not only offers an alternative technology for sustainable design but it also explores the process that it took to get there. it is through the critical making process where a multiplicity of re-directive and alternative approaches can be put forward. 

I // MRES > 1 + 1 AS A DESIGN RESEARCH OUTPUT

IT // SHARE THE DESIGN & PROTOTYPING PROCESS

WE // BUILD A COLLECTIVE SYSTEM

ITS // CONNECT THE SYSTEM TO A NETWORK

[garaksapprentice]

Sewing Zero Waste Culottes from The Craft of Clothes

Zero Waste Culottes From The Craft of Clothes

Behold! Fancy pants!

The pattern for these pants was one of my Christmas gifts. It comes from Liz at The Craft of Clothes, a zero-waste designer. I've really gravitated towards self-drafting and zero-waste sewing in the last couple of years, and this pattern has been on my list for a good six months, so I was excited to get into it.

Drafting

The first step (after reading the pattern through twice) is drafting the pattern pieces.

My biggest starting hurdle was deciphering "the culottes are designed to sit on your waist" when choosing the correct pattern size. Most designers consider "the waist" to be the teapot - that is, the true waist. (It's easiest to find if you bend to the side and stick your hand in the crease - like you're singing "I'm a little teapot".) But some consider belly button height to be "the waist". I generally wear my pants at the latter height, and there's a good 2" circumference difference between those two for me.

I eventually decided to call my belly button my waist, on the grounds that that's where I prefer to wear my pants. It's also easier to take seams in than out, if I guessed wrong.

Decisions over, it was smooth sailing from there. Pattern drafting is not a technically difficult process, as long as you have good instructions, and Liz's patterns definitely fit that bill. But there's a lot of attention to detail required to make sure the end result is good. That sort of thing always makes me nervous. Fortunately there was only two pattern pieces to draft, and they're 98% straight lines and based off rectangles.

Interestingly, this is the first zero-waste pattern I've tried that has you draft pattern pieces to use. The others I've seen (most by the creator of this pattern - our library had a copy of her book, Zero Waste Sewing) have had you draw directly on your piece of fabric to create the layout. (In fairness, I didn't have to draft my own pieces. The pattern came with the option of self-drafting, printing on A4, or printing on A0.)

I much prefer the direct-draw method to faffing about with pattern pieces. But given that this pattern is designed to have the pieces tesselate, having a set of physical pattern pieces does make more sense. It's also got me wondering if I could successfully make a pair out of old jeans legs, using one leg per pattern piece. But then, I'm always looking for ways to use up my denim pile...

Sewing

I prefer structure rather than flow in my butt coverings, so I was somewhat limited in my fabric choices for this first pair. (I know the fabric I really want to use, but I am being a sensible apprentice and trying things out on a nice-but-less-hideously-expensive fabric first.) Most of my stash acquisition has focused on stuff for shirts, since I wear those out faster than pants. I eventually settled on this nice brick red, 100% cotton, table cloth.

The picture is suffering from sun exposure. It's nowhere near this bright in person.

I laid out the pieces and huzzah! The fabric was just big enough! ... But only if I unpicked the hems (they're monsters, a full 3 cm/1.2" each side) and ironed them flat first. Thus, it was time for a marathon unpicking and ironing session.

After that was done, I checked the pattern fit again. Huzzah! I had enough space for all the pattern pieces, and not very much scrap left over once I'd cut them all out. (Of course, it was late and I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have been, so I didn't add an extra inch when I was forced to cut the waistband in two pieces. There was enough extra fabric that this was only an annoyance and not a complete disaster.)

The fabric at the top is scrap. All but a few inches of the stuff on the right became waist bands and plackets.

Sewing was a fairly straightforward exercise, though it required enough brainpower that I completely forgot to take any progress shots as I went. Almost every step of the pattern comes with a diagram to show you what to do, which helped me immensely. So did having the seam allowances specified at each point, as there's three different ones used in different places.

That's not to say I didn't screw up, of course. While sewing the crotch seam, I somehow managed to close up the front of the pants entirely and leave a gap for the placket open at the back. (That will teach me not to double check the direction the pockets are facing before I pin and sew that seam. Maybe.) 

I also made a highly decorative and completely awful to sew with choice for topstitching thread, which I quickly became too stubborn to stop using. So the topstitching is, uh, not great. But it is purple and sparkly, and if I'd had any sense at all I would have left it til last (or even done some sort of hand embroidery with it).

I was tricked by the first line of stitching being so easy. LIES. It was all lies.

Why should I have left it til last? Because it turns out that the culottes are, in fact, designed to sit on one's true waist. Which meant I had a two inch difference between what I needed to fit me, and what the waist measurement was. If I hadn't top stitched the panels, I could have simply ran another line of stitching down the seams that didn't have pockets in the way, and taken the waist in without much fuss or bother. Unfortunately, I didn't do that, so I was left with two choices.

Take out the topstitching and take in all the panels, bitching and moaning about the effort I went to and the number of times the topstitch thread broke while I was sewing the stupid sparkly goodness onto things.

Work out how to take the waist in by the necessary two inches, using only the crotch seam and maybe some darts or pleats or something.

Choice #1 would have been the logical, rational decision, so of course I went with option #2.

An hour and change of basting, pinning and unpinning the waistband, and completely forgetting how seam allowances work later, I managed to get a fit I was happy enough with. I ended up grading in a dart-like object at the centre back. (If I decide later that I'm not happy with the fit after all, I'll try out the modification for adding elastic to the back waistband that the pattern also includes. Probably while questioning my life choices and lamenting the amount of time I spend with a seam ripper in hand.)

The original stitching line is in blue, the new one is in black.

After all that fitting woe, I wasn't in the mood to try buttonholes (my good machine, the one with the automatic buttonholer, is currently out of action). Instead I dove into my snap stash to close the placket.

I love using bright, vivid colours for inner details. It's the sewing equivalent of wearing leopard print underwear.

A nice bonus of using the snaps is that I could put them through just the placket, leaving the fly front clean. This did make the placket pull slightly when I'm wearing the pants, exposing a trace of bright red. I fixed that by invisibly whip-stitching through the placket and outer fabric to hold everything in place. Next time I'll also double check the understitching, and topstitch the edge if needed, before installing the snaps.

Field Test and Adjustments

Trying stuff on as you go is all well and good, but nothing tells you what you really need to fix like being out in the field. I quickly discovered several things:

The waistband needs serious help to stay where it's supposed to be. Which, y'know, I did make a size larger than I should have. This was not surprising.

The crotch needs to either drop a wee bit or (preferably) rise a couple of inches. The latter will likely spoil the skirt-effect somewhat, but it will be far more comfortable for my legs.

I need a loop on the waistband to hold my keys.

For the waist woes, I had a few choices - 1) belt loops, 2) suspenders, or 3) add elastic to the back waistband. Belt loops are fiddly to make and sew on, but would solve the key-hanging issue. Suspenders technically wouldn't need any sewing changes, but the clip-on style are notorious for pulling off when you're doing things. And while the pattern includes instructions for adding elastic to the waistband, I wasn't confident it would do the job I wanted (I stick a fair amount of junk in my pockets and elastic can't always cope with the weight).

After some dithering, I went with the suspender option for this pair. I like the look of them, and the "floating" effect they give when they pull the waistband a bit above where gravity wants it to sit is extremely comfortable. But I didn't want to deal with clips always popping off. So I indulged in a quick side-quest of improving my suspenders, then sewed buttons into the waistband of the culottes.

This used to hold the clips, but the wire was easy to bend flat with needle-nose pliers.

Gee, I wonder which buttonhole I did first?

Fashion Show

Overall, I'm quite happy with how it all came together. I'll definitely be making at least two more pairs - the "men's" version (less flare in the hems), likely out of recycled denim, and a pair in heavyweight stash linen.

The back panel adjustment is basically unnoticeable.

They have great range of movement - maybe I need to make a workout pair?

And I even have somewhere to hang my keys.

This post was originally published on my blog, Garak's Apprentice . I currently syndicate my content at Micro.blog, Tumblr, and Ko-Fi.

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[wolfnight2012]

Yes, Nandor fell to his knees when the Baron dumped "Guillermo's" body in the foyer. (In Front Of his entire family [sans Colin Robinson] and the Baron!) As if he could no longer bring himself to care about who saw him break down/how weak he might be perceived

Yes, cradled (what he thought was) Guillermo's dead body

Yes, his little half-sobbed "Oh, no" was very telling & heartbreaking

But let's talk about his positively distraught cries when he thought Laszlo was gonna desecrate Guillermo's corpse???

Because that's Guillermo to him. As in, that's still Guillermo to Nandor, even as a corpse.

And that's not something we see often with vampires in the wwdits world

Vampires here seem to simply accept death & move on. Once someone/something is considered dead, it is time to move on

Our main characters do it with the Baron. He gets fried to a crisp, they bury him, say a few half-hearted words, and move on (he's Nadja's sire! He had a trist with both her and Laszlo. He's like, their unofficial superior/boss, in that he can order them to take over North America & just like, move into their home?)

They do it with Colin Robinson, twice! Both when he fakes his death in 2x05 (simply bury him & say a few words) and to a lesser(ish) extent when he "dies" on his 100th birthday (few words, few sentimental touches & thats it, we move on)

Nadja does it with her reincarnated lover, able to drop him/forget about him the moment he dies

iirc, the only instances that don't follow this pattern is when the dead person isn't considered truly dead (yet)

Nandor wastes no real time grieving Gail, because she's not dead dead (yet) he can fix her! She's temporarily not alive at worst.

Topher, similarly, can be revived (or so they think) so he's not dead dead either, because he can be fixed. Once its clear he can't be truly fixed, they can easily discard & forget about him.

Young Colin Robinson isn't dead dead either. His adult self is alive & well (and back) Laszlo is simply grieving the fatherhood/son that only exists in his memories.

Guillermo is dead dead. Either because vampirism only takes immediately after death or because the Baron would simply kill him again, turning him into a vampire isn't an option. (And I like to think they learned their lesson with the necromancer/zombie!Topher)

Guillermo is dead dead & everyone reacts accordingly: the Baron chills out immediately, even feeling a little bad (not for Guillermo's death, he was only a familiar after all) for causing a fellow vampire/one of the vampires he's arguably closer to pain

Nadja (who was fighting & scheming & panicked to save him) declares he should be buried before he starts to stink. She might care about Guillermo & consider him family (even if she'd never say those actual words) but the body on the floor isn't Guillermo anymore, it's just a corpse that needs disposing.

Meanwhile, Nandor has accepted Guillermo's death; he's not planning on how to revive him/bring him back.

Guillermo is dead dead.

But Nandor is still protective of what he should only consider to be a corpse now. That's still Guillermo to him.

He cradles him up off the floor. He gently brushes his hair back. He's distraught at the thought of Laszlo cutting him up, even in death.

Anyways, there's zero chance of Nandor trying to kill Guillermo in earnest. That man could not handle the emotional toll

[evenstarfalls]

Obviously if it reduces the amount of yardage you'll need it's a good thing. But if you start out requiring the same amount of fabric either way, incorporating all the weird little fabric bits in the design doesn't change the amount of material used up. If you're someone who's conscientious about using all of their scraps you're actually wasting fabric by incorporating it where it isn't needed. A hoodie made from a blanket requires the same minimum amount of fabric either way—a blanket—but if you can make one with scraps left over and use them as filler for another project, it's less wasteful than sewing a hoodie that uses every bit of the blanket.

Ngl I think zero waste sewing is a little bit bullshit

[so-i-did-this-thing]

Hi! Did you find a pattern for the coat you sewed for the crozier cosplay, or did you draft it yourself? It came out really well and I would like to sew it too

Thanks!

I drafted my own pattern, but the approach is very similar to this zero waste chore coat:

If you study how that pattern is drafted, you can make adjustments to match the on-screen coat, which will NOT be a "zero waste" pattern anymore because of the belt + different proportions. (So, make sure you have a lot of extra fabric. I used 10oz canvas duck, iirc.)

The hardest part is drafting the collar, and I just sort of did that by draping stiff paper, and later, canvas, on a dress form wearing the coat and cutting it til it looked right.

Here's me figuring out how to make the coat work on me (I'm as tall as Jared, but not as broad -- hashtag trans man problems):

I also put in drawstrings in the cuffs to make them bunch up, which you can see here.

This was my first garment ever (my biggest goof was I cut the collar lining the wrong way on the fabric), but everything other than the collar and toggle thingies are just a bunch of rectangles sewn together, so it comes together fast -- just be aware the coat by design will be very large/loose and will look weird unless belted and worn over a jacket (I'm wearing a bog standard peacoat until my partner and I tackle the undress uniform). A muslin mockup will help you dial in the proportions.

Good luck!

[cy-lindric]

Hi! I love your historical pants. Did you use an existing pattern, or did you draft your own? And if so... Do you sell patterns at all? I'd love to make myself a pair but I haven't learned enough to make my own patterns yet

Hello ! I got this question a lot so I hope you won't mind if I use it as a springboard to make a general public reply about it ! For reference, I started sewing a year and a half ago. I don't have any formal training and started from zero, so I kind of just rely on enthusiasm and trial and error.

For most of my projects, I use a mix of patterns and draping. I mostly do men's clothing and the patterns I find don't always match my body type exactly, so I rarely get to use them as is. I'm fairly tall and narrow so usually the smaller men's sizes are a good base, but not all patterns include sizes small enough, and there's still much to fix for me in terms of chest length, leg length, thighs, etc. That'll be something to keep in mind if you're smaller or more hourglass shaped for instance.

For the fall front trousers, it was kind of an impulse project, so I didn't work from a book and I bought a pdf pattern from Laughing Moon Mercantile. It was very useful to construct the front, which is quite complex by my second-year-of-sewing standards, but it only came in fairly big sizes so there was a lot of alterations to do pretty much everywhere else. Also worth noting is that the pdf is made for an A0 format, and although you can print it at home on a mosaic of A4 paper using Acrobat, it's impossible to select which "tile" section of the A0 page you want to print. The pdf pattern contains many options and printing everything to get just the pieces I needed was just too wasteful to do. Instead, I printed only the pattern pieces from the first page, and drafted/copied the missing pieces from other pages myself directly on pattern paper. If you're willing to go through the printing and resizing hassle, it's a great pattern with very clear and exhaustive informations on construction and options for both historical and modern notions.

I picked that one because I wanted to do trousers specifically and it matched my needs best with many options to potentially combine, but if you're looking to do shorter breeches or just want to use it for the fall front, patterns are fairly easy to find on etsy or elsewhere. I like Reconstructing History because their smallest men's size works great for me and they cover a huge range of eras and styles. Unfortunately the instructions don't contain as many diagrams and are sometimes a bit more difficult to follow. I almost never buy paper patterns so I can't recommend any. When it comes to actual historical garments that aren't like, halloween costumes, I find it very difficult to encounter paper patterns and I only find what I'm looking for in books or pdf patterns. I find that both is best where you're a beginner ; the book gives great insight, and the pdf is a good base to work off. I'm still fairly new so I only have a few books (some of them physical, a lot of them pdfs, because they're expensive and sometimes out of print) but they're great classics and they help me a lot :

The Cut of Men's Clothes, 1600-1900 by Nora Waugh 17th Century Men's Dress Patterns by Braun, Costiglio, North, Thornton and Tiramani The Medieval Tailor's Assistant: Common Garments 1100-1480 by Sarah Thursfield Patterns of Fashion - Books 3 and 4 by Janet Arnold

Sorry this was so long ! If you're a beginner reading this, keep in mind I just threw myself at this with no prior experience quite recently and I'm having a lot of fun so go for it and don't be afraid to make mistakes and start over ! Good luck :)

[nemaliwrites]

2025 WIP Cleanout

anyway i was thinking about Jessica Abel's thoughts on idea debt and @/bettsfic's newsletter on triaging wips and realized there is a LOT of drawerfic i have that my brain refuses to actually leave in the proverbial drawer

it was easy then to be like 'ok whatever i'll just scrap this' but harder to realize that...i don't actually want to scrap them

i don't know if it's the ideas themselves that keep haunting me or the potential that i know those stories can have if only i put the work in - so here is me, vowing to put the work in

i've got 4 fics, over 300k more words to write, and a plan of action for all of them - here's everything i've got on the list (they all have titles too so that's how you know i'm serious about them LOL)

Something Man-Made is Here

Beef, Amy/Danny, Amy/Paul

this one is what inspired this cleanout bc i've literally had this fic on the backburner FOREVER :') i first started it back in june 2023 and wrote like 20k words before taking a break. then i picked it back up for nano 2023 and wrote the 50k before taking another break. finally in july 2024 i wrote the last 30k and then promptly buried the doc so deep in my folders that i didn't look at it again

i do think this one has good bones and is worth polishing up, but i mean, to state the obvious...absolutely no one is going to read this. there are like 10 fics for this fandom - for so long i've been feeling like it would be a waste of time to fix this up.

but!!! it wouldn't!!!! because as we have established, this will keep haunting me until i actually do something about it. so! plan of action

currently, the draft is around 100k and 27 chapters. but! it is a mess

i think the final chapter count will actually be less....chapters 24-27 feel like they could be consolidated into one or two, just to tighten up the pacing a bit

the entire thing also needs probably a straight up rewrite so....that will be fun

a lot of the smaller things this needs - a sweep for pacing, characterization, etc etc - will probably be covered in the rewrite so i just need to put the time in

final word count will probably be somewhere around 80-100k? i think a lot of what i have will be cut and replaced, so it'll also be tightened up

2. Hold Up Our Mirrors

AI: The Somnium Files, Iris & Saito

started this one back in february 2023...wow. it's currently sitting at 17k words, but i think the reason i dropped it is because it has no audience except for me [do you see a pattern here...] and also because it needed a lot of canon review that i wasn't really in the mood to do

this one also has good bones! back when i started this, i found the theme/motif that i wanted it to center around, so that's a lot of the groundwork done.

canon reviewwww.....i have no idea who these people are anymore.

probably will scrap most of what i have and start fresh, mostly bc i was in a very different place when i wrote this and i think starting over will help put me back into the headspace of the story

good bones good bones!! i actually have most of the major beats of the story already written down, so most of the rewrite's focus will be on characterization rather than plot

i don't think this one should be very long? [fully aware that i will probably eat my words] i was thinking around 50k, so we'll see

3. Swim Back to Your Shore

Persona 4, Yu & Nanako, Yu & Investigation Team

ahhh another fic that will only appeal to me. this one is actually more recent than the others on the list..i started it back in august 2024. so far, i've got 29k written, but about 20k of that was written with dictation, so it's more of a zero draft than anything coherent.

the first like...8k though, i'm actually quite happy with! don't think it'll require as much work as the rest

okiee first of all, need to rewrite all of the dictation-written chapters (5 of them) into something resembling prose

after that, actually, i think it's just writing the rest? the plot is like.....a vague mishmash of things that only exists in my head, so finding the right thread to pull might take a while

thinking around 80k for this one

4. Maybe Life Will Love You Home

Miraculous Ladybug, Shadybug/Claw Noir

so this one might actually appeal to people other than me!! all....two of you LOL

started this one back in may 2024, and originally meant to finish it for the ML big bang, but..idk the vibes were off, so i scrapped that idea. this one's currently sitting at 15k, but i think i need to start fresh with this one too.

read through what i have and cannibalize it for ideas

just write! for this one at least, the plot is a bit more concrete in my head? maybe bc i've been thinking about it for so long....haunting me...

thinking also around 80k for this one!

deadline for all of these is by the end of the year, 2025. godspeed, future me

[themculibrary]

Stucky + Samtasha Masterlist

Are You Lost In Paradise? (ao3) - dameronpoetry E, 54k

Summary: The one where Steve and Bucky are both actors who meet on the Evening Show with Clint Barton. They fall for each other hard - as you'd expect - but things get in the way - though no one falls off any trains.

This is a tale involving motorcycles, cuddling, disgustingly cute emails, terrifying Russian actresses, heartbreak, snarky New Yorkers, ridiculously convoluted plots between interested parties, and maybe, just maybe love.

Dude, Where’s My Pants? (ao3) - debwalsh steve/bucky, natasha/sam N/R, 3k

Summary: In which Steve wakes up with the man of his dreams in his bed ... but apparently that’s his crush’s worst nightmare.

What happens in Vegas may spell the end of a beautiful friendship.

It’s a good thing Nat and Sam aren’t going to allow Steve and Bucky to get away with not talking about what happened ...

Family Placement (ao3) - notlucy E, 88k

Summary: Steve Rogers had a train ticket in hand and the chance to begin again after losing everything in Brooklyn - his father, his mother, the comfort and familiarity of home. Going west meant the opportunity to become his own man and stake his claim on the wide, flat prairie.

Then, of course, there was Bucky Barnes.

Fire Alarms (ao3) - starlight_starbright E, 11k

Summary: Something sets the fire alarm of and, thankfully, Steve forgets his room key.

I literally cut myself out of my pants. Waste. Of. Money. (ao3) - relenafanel M, 6k

Summary: Hey friend of Sam’s can I get an opinion on this outfit? Bucky texted, attaching the selfie taken in Sam’s bathroom mirror.

He received an answer almost immediately. Bucky was almost expecting a lecture, or at least a concerned question about who had stolen Sam’s phone.

He got neither.

New text from Steve: What do you want it to say?

Or: Bucky strikes up a flirtation with a stranger over text message in the month leading up to Valentine's Day.

Laughter Lines (ao3) - drmcbones M, 100k

Summary: Bucky Barnes is a rising Hollywood star with a tragic past and a reputation for driving his bodyguards away. Steve Rogers is a veteran with the same tragic past and the need to get back out in the world. The two of them have been estranged since they were teenagers, so when Steve joins SHIELD as a bodyguard, he is less than thrilled when he finds out that Bucky is his first assignment. But how bad can it be? They're both professional adults, right?

Wrong.

Murder on the Dancefloor (ao3) - 74days T, 3k

Summary: After getting over a bad relationship, Steve is taken out for a night on the town by his best friend Sam. However, when he sees his ex on the dancefloor with a much hotter guy, Steve decides to grab the nearest guy and make out with him. It's actually a really good decision - if you don't count getting thrown out of the club.

Poltergeists (ao3) - enemyofrome T, 17k

Summary: When the helicarriers blow up and the Winter Soldier goes on the run, he takes Steve with him. He's got a name written in Morse code on the inside of his arm, a ton of questions he doesn't know how to ask, and now, a new handler with absolutely zero sense of self-preservation to contend with. Life is hard.

In which Bucky tries to figure out whether he's a human being, Steve does everything he can to keep from losing him again, and there are lots of explosions.

Shoot a Hole into the Sun (ao3) - keire_ke, PR Zed (przed) T, 28k

Summary: It was Nat who'd noticed the pattern. Every afternoon at exactly the same time, Steve and Barnes would share a heart-in-their eyes-hug, and then moon over each other at a table in their favourite coffee shop in the Tower.

Sam and Nat spend their afternoons making fun of the old people in love. Which maybe isn't the smartest thing in the world when they just might be in love themselves.

The Daily Rogers (ao3) - Nonymos E, 32k

Summary: College AU. May contain exchange students, a Starbucks addiction, daddy issues, anger issues, closets and how to get out of them, the ever-ominous influence of social networks, various levels of betrayal, awfully poor life choices, but also, ultimately, real chunks of love.

The Right Way to Fall (ao3) - Taste_is_Sweet T, 41k

Summary: He's just scruffy enough that most people would avoid eye contact in case he asked them for change. But his eyes are startling blue and stark and wild, and he looks at Sam and Sam looks at him, and yeah. Turns out he knows where Bucky is after all.

Except, Sam reminds himself, this isn't Bucky. This is the Winter Soldier, who's gone completely, absolutely still like an animal trying to decide whether to attack or run. And Sam is suddenly, terribly aware of all the people around them: all the tourists and the kids on their field trips; all the families with their babies and toddlers; all the sentimental fools like him come to visit Captain America on an overcast Wednesday afternoon.

But Sam has also seen that expression on the men and women who come to his counseling sessions. He's seen it in the mirror more times than he cares to count. He knows that kind of fear and pain, just like he knows that the man who was once James Buchanan Barnes could have already killed him. Killed as many people as he wanted to, and run.

He could have, but he didn't.

Through a dark night, without a sunrise, love will tell us where to go (ao3) - LunaCanisLupus_22 E, 126k

Summary: “I know you,” he says faintly.

“Yes,” the man agrees without looking up. “I’m Captain America.”

That’s no it. That can’t be it. There’s something more. There’s something-

“No.” The declaration is persistent now. “I know you.”

Or the one where Bucky doesn't remember being Bucky or the Winter Soldier but ends up a little too interested in Captain America anyway.

Welcome to the Jungle (ao3) - neversaydie E, 44k

Summary: "What do you think about guy-guy scenes?"

He was too self-conscious to act, modelling didn't pay enough, and time out of school for the medical trial that fixed his body had left him barely scraping a pass on his GED. He shared an apartment with a burlesque dancer, and she'd talked him into it over a weekend and way too much tequila.

Three pictures and one embarrassingly short amateur jerk-off video later, and here he is.

"Gay scenes?"

His mom can never find out about this.

[Porn Industry AU]

When Life Gives You Lemons (ao3) - starbunny G, 9k

Summary: Steve's idea of a simple life consisted of two things. First, drawing and taking art commissions whenever he pleased, and second, taking care of his wonderful garden. 

What it did NOT include was: Having the local wildlife unanimously decide that his garden was the greatest sanctuary ever, attracting the attention of the mysterious species of humans known as 'The Avengers', or starting a war with a cunning raccoon that destroyed everything in Steve's garden, then learning that the raccoon was not really a raccoon after all and Steve should have really known better. 

What has become of his life?

[gradientdescent-does-it-all]

New year, new almost-certainly-fruitless resolution to burn down my stash (ha ha ha). I found a really elegant zero-waste shirt pattern that calls for exactly one yard of fabric per shirt, and the design looked just perfect for the five exactly-one-yard-long pieces of silk I dyed last year. I tend to hold on to “special” fabrics way longer than I should instead of using them, but this time I’m gonna do it! I’m gonna sew them!

The fabric above is Dharma Trading’s silk noil. From left to right, the dyes are:

Indigo

Madder overdyed with indigo

Myrobalan overdyed with indigo

Myrobalan

Madder

I don’t know why this fabric isn’t more popular - it’s delightfully soft, a little bit flowy, and a very reasonable price point for silk. Well, ok, I DO know why it’s not popular - blah blah blah polyester blah blah blah mass manufacturing etc etc etc. But I’m certainly planning to work it into my own sewing a LOT.

The cutting layout for this shirt is so ingenious! It truly is zero-waste, every scrap used, which feels really important for me with these hand-dyed silks that I worked so hard on.

[theblackbookofarkera]

Tursi Desert

Of all Slukea's aberrations, none better exemplifies the continent's wrongness than the Tursi Desert. Here, blood-red sands stretch endlessly beneath a perpetually frozen sky, where even the winds seem to carry the screams of the damned. This is no natural waste, but rather the scar of some ancient catastrophe whose true nature has been mercifully forgotten by time.

The desert's crimson sands radiate a sickening energy that the scholars of the Praath Holdfast claim is akin to the deathfields left in the wake of Old World weapons. Those who venture too deep into the Tursi return with weeping sores, their hair falling out in clumps, their bones growing brittle, if they return at all. The sand itself seems alive, shifting in patterns that suggest conscious malevolence rather than natural wind patterns.

Dotting this hellscape are the corpses of titanic war machines, their rusted hulls rising from the red dunes like the ribcages of fallen gods. These metal behemoths dwarf anything crafted in our age, their original purpose as mysterious as their makers. Some still hum with residual power, their internal chambers lighting up with sickly glows during the desert's bitter nights. The Praath have attempted to study these machines, but every expedition has ended in tragedy - the last group was found inside one such titan, their flesh fused with its inner walls as if the machine had tried to absorb them.

The desert bears testament to battles of unimaginable scale. Fortress walls of some strange black metal rise from the sands, cut clean through as if sliced by a giant's blade. These walls show no signs of age or rust, their surfaces still bearing the heat-scarring of whatever weapons brought about their destruction. Fields of bones stretch for leagues, the remains neither fully human nor completely other, suggesting the warriors who died here were changed by the same forces that now haunt their battlefield.

Most disturbing are the pools of living ichor that bubble up from beneath the sands. These viscous puddles move with obvious purpose, flowing against gravity and wind, hunting for any living thing that dares tread upon the cursed dunes. When they find nothing, they sink back into the sand, leaving behind patches of crystallized time where unfortunate insects or desert rats remain trapped in eternal moments of agony.

The souls of fallen warriors still wage their endless war across the Tursi. These spectral legions march in formation, their ethereal forms bearing weapons and armor that follow no style known to modern eyes. Yet these ghosts are not the desert's true masters - they themselves are hunted by sand demons, terrible entities bound to the desert by some ancient pact. These demons manifest as whirlwinds of crystallized blood, their forms adorned with the weapons and armor they have claimed from their spectral prey over millennia of their eternal hunt.

The Praath have documented seven distinct types of sand demons, though they suspect many more exist. Most common are the Khur'aki, who take the form of crimson dust devils that flay flesh from bone with their abrasive touch. Rarest and most feared are the Ny'thul, who appear as holes in reality ringed with red sand, their true forms mercifully hidden from mortal sight. To witness a Ny'thul's actual shape is to invite madness - the few who have survived such encounters speak only in rhyming riddles thereafter, their words containing prophecies that invariably foretell doom.

At the heart of the Tursi lies a perfect circle of glass a league in diameter, its surface unmarred by sand despite centuries of storms. In its center stands a single pillar of the same material that seems to absorb all light that touches it. The Praath believe this site to be ground zero of whatever calamity created the desert, though none have managed to approach the pillar - all who try find themselves walking endlessly toward it without ever getting closer, until their water runs out and the desert claims them.

I have visited many of Arkera's cursed places, but none fill me with such profound dread as the Tursi. This is a place where something went terribly wrong, where reality itself was wounded by powers that should never have been unleashed. The desert's red sands may well be the scab over that wound, and like all scabs, one must wonder what horrors might emerge should it ever be picked away.

The Praath speak of taming the Tursi, of harnessing its strange energies for their own purposes. Such hubris would be amusing if it were not so dangerous. Some places are not meant to be tamed, some powers not meant to be harnessed. The Tursi Desert stands as testament to this truth, its red sands forever stained with the folly of those who thought otherwise.

350

[learningnewstuff]

1 + 1 MODULAR PATTERN CUTTING SYSTEM

Designed as part of my MRes thesis; the 1 + 1 PROPOSITIONAL PATTERN CUTTING SYSTEM is a zero-waste, negative-waste and additive pattern cutting and clothing design system that scales a single block shape into a variety of silhouettes by repeating and assembling that block shape to create the complete garment. The system can be used with regular lengths of new cloth, end rolls of fabric and textile waste materials

1 + 1 DESIGN RESEARCH OUTPUTS

The design outputs form the  1 + 1 system illustrate a comprehensive working example of a holistic design system that puts waste up front in the design process.

The simple block shape economically utilizes the undeterminable varying shapes of waste material, it is repeated to form the silhouette of the design and can then be disassembled to then re-form a new style. 

The already once consumed fabric can be unpicked and re-stitched into a transmutable shape that can transform the Box Roll Jacket into the kite wrap and the kite wrap can be disassembled to transform into the enclosed within rucksack and so on and so on.

NEXT STAGES for The UN – MAKE & RE – CLOTHE project is to use this work as a propositional tool to gain a deeper knowledge into the feasibility of introducing the 1 + 1 Propositional Pattern Cutting System to the market as an open source platform and a re-design / re-make distribution service.

[garaksapprentice]

In search of compostable clothing closures

Making clothes that are 97% biodegradable is surprisingly easy. Pick a natural fibre fabric, buy some 100% cotton or linen thread, and you're there. (You can even get 100% cotton overlocker thread - though you have to go searching for it.)

Those last few percent, though? That can be tough. One of the biggest offenders is closures. While there are plenty of clothes that don't need something to hold them shut, I confess I like having the option. Below is a round-up of various closures, and their compostability.

Note: for the purpose of this article, I'm treating metal closures as "compostable", in the sense that they're 1) easy to remove before you compost the rest of the object, and 2) infinitely reusable on other things, unless they break - at which point they're usually recyclable using our current commercial systems. And remember, re-using things that already exist is always preferable to buying new, "better" items.

Buckles/Rings

While less common than other closure methods, I find buckles, D-rings and O-rings are great when used in the right context. They're usually metal or plastic, neither of which are compostable - but metal will last practically forever, if it's good quality. Plastic tends to degrade over time, especially if exposed to the sun.

I find rings especially quick and easy to use, and a set of D-rings can give a very fine-tuned amount of tightening. My favourite belt uses two square D-rings instead of a buckle closure.

Buttons

The humble button, while ubiquitous now, took a while to catch on. Buttons as a common method of closure didn't become popular in Europe* until about the early 1300s, around the same time that the tailoring revolution[^] happened.

Nowadays, plastic is by far the most common material that buttons are made from. It's cheap and sturdy, but obviously it doesn't compost. So what are some alternatives?

Liz Haywood, a pattern maker who focuses on zero-waste designs, has thought a bit about this conundrum here. There's photos of several different DIY compostable and recycled buttons in her post.

For a completely compostable garment, wood, leather, horn, fabric, and thread buttons are your best bet. If, like most sensible people, you remove the buttons from something that's about to be worm food before you ditch it, the options expand considerably - metal, clay, recycled bottle caps, even glass buttons are all possible. You can have a lot of fun with making your own buttons - to match an outfit, or contrast with it, or maybe you'd like a different button for every buttonhole...

Another, related option is cufflinks - 18th century shirts often used cufflinks on the sleeves and one or two small thread buttons on the collar. That way one set of cufflinks could be used on multiple shirts, showing off a bit of wealth, while saving them from the (admittedly harsh) laundry practices of the day.

[*]: I have no doubt that buttons became popular in other parts of the world, too, but unfortunately I don't know much about it. Europe in the 14-15th century is my main area of study, mostly due to the fact that the historical re-enactment group that I'm a part of operates in that time period.

[^]: The tailoring revolution refers to the period where garments for the higher classes underwent a dramatic change in the way they were cut out. The very short version is, fashion garments shifted from primarily rectangular construction to more form-fitting, using the precursors of many standard cutting practices used today.

Elastic

While elastic isn't technically a closure, it's used that way in many different objects. Most elastic nowadays is made from polyester and synthetic rubber. No composting there.

But, all is not lost! You can now find elastics made of natural rubber and cotton! (I was quite impressed by this, to be honest. I thought I'd have to give up elastic for good.)

The downside, as is usual when you actually give a crap about the planet, is cost. You'll mostly only find it for sale online (Etsy has several options), and it can be more expensive (especially factoring in shipping). Prices on the compostable elastics I found were comparable to a mid-range polyester elastic at Spotlight (before shipping). I think that's actually pretty good, all things considered. (I don't trust the cheapest elastic, it loses its stretch ridiculously fast. A fact I discovered to my sorrow only after buying a 20m roll of it.)

As a bonus, supposedly natural rubber elastic lasts longer than synthetic elastics - this has been my experience with many natural vs synthetic things, but I haven't tested natural elastic specifically to know for sure.

The biggest downside here is the rubber - if you're dealing with a latex allergy, this is not the solution for you.

Hooks and Eyes

While these have fallen out of favour over the years, they do have their uses in a compostable closet. They're easy to buy, and easy to make if you can get hold of the wire - all you need is a set of needle-nose pliers.

Being metal, the hook/eye can be re-used until it breaks - which takes a while. Like buttons, they're easy to take off a garment and move to another one. Unlike buttons, they don't need a buttonhole - you can move both the hook and eye almost anywhere on a garment, really refining the fit of an item.

They are, however, somewhat limited in that application - hooks and eyes work best if they're under a small but constant amount of tension, pulling in opposite directions. I once tried to use hooks and eyes on a loose-fitting medieval tunic, and it just didn't work.

Laces and Ties

Before buttons became The Big Thing in medieval Europe (and for quite a few centuries after), laces and ties were the closure method du jour. Why did they stick around so long? The same reason pyjama pants often have a drawstring in them - they add adjustability to garments in a simple and easy to use (and create!) way. Stays and corsets are one of the most recognisable examples of this concept in action.

Lacing does work better on some things than others, but just about anywhere that you'd put elastic nowadays can likely use a drawstring instead. And there are some patterns (YouTube link) for adjustable garments that use lacing as an integral part of the design.

The main downside for me? They can be slow to use, and awkward, if you have difficulty with fine motor control. Mine is variable enough that I'll usually opt for a different closure, unless lacing or ties really is the best or only option.

Snaps

Confession: I adore snaps. They're fast and easy to use when my hands don't want to co-operate, and they can be wonderfully decorative as well as functional.

There are two general types - those you sew into place like you sew on hooks and eyes, and ones that are applied to the fabric using a press. The former takes more time to install, but can be replaced relatively easily if they stop working. The latter can technically be replaced, but it's a LOT harder and you risk damaging the fabric behind it while you try. They're also more likely to rip out of the fabric in the first place.

As for material, it's pretty much just metal and plastic (sometimes a combination). From a sustainability standpoint, metal is the better option - as long as you recycle it at the end of its life.

Zips

Zips are everywhere nowadays. They're easy to use, but can be hard to replace when they break. Putting them in correctly isn't always a cake-walk either. And in terms of compostability, the answer is definitely "no".

The vast majority of zippers on the market use a polyester or poly-cotton tape, with plastic or metal teeth set into it, and plastic or metal tabs and pulls. Because of the mix of materials, and the size of a typical zip, most municipal waste streams can't take them for recycling. However, textile recyclers` such as Upparel usually take zips (and the things they're attached to!).

I also found a couple of different manufacturers creating zips out of post-consumer recycled materials - a pleasant surprise, and a strong move towards closing waste streams. 

[`]: Clothing retailers are increasingly taking responsibility for their part in reducing waste by offering recycling programs through their stores. Recycling Near You and Frankie list some of the major programs in Australia, though it's worth noting that most of those listed only want whole textiles or large pieces - to my knowledge, Upparel is the only place that will take scraps, broken textiles, and related.

If I've missed a closure type, or you know of places selling compostable or truly recyclable versions of any of the above, I would love to hear about it. While I'm (currently) a far less prolific sewist than the blog name implies, I want to be deliberate and thoughtful in my sewing choices going forward. 

Also, as a last random thought, I wonder if anyone has started making bioplastic versions of any of the above? *Wanders off to do some research...*

Originally published at my blog: https://garaksapprentice.blogspot.com/2023/09/in-search-of-compostable-closures.html

[discountalien-pancake]

Somewhere in me there is a rant about how “zero-waste” clothing that uses every inch of a rectangle of fabric in a garment isn’t necessarily less wasteful than a similar garment that uses shaped pattern pieces.

Inhale. Alright, bear with me.

I can make a pirate shirt out of rectangles and use up every inch of a piece of fabric if i lay the pieces out correctly. Is this actually less wasteful than if the shirt has a shaped armscye and neckline? So long as the pieces still fit onto the same original cut of fabric?

Or more relevantly, I recently saw someone brand their skirts as an adjustable, historically inspired, zero-waste design. It was literally an 18th century petticoat. Two rectangles of pleated fabric with waist ties for the front and back panels. Aside from the questionable ethics of claiming they designed this skirt, is it actually less wasteful?

People who sew know that generally speaking, a circle skirt is considered very “wasteful,” because cutting it in just one or two pieces requires an awkward amount of fabric, and the inner circle of the waistline is generally too small to use for anything (but it’s big enough for part of a pocket!). But if you divide the circle into pie slices, you can rotate each slice so that you can “top and tail” them across your fabric. And in doing so you can potentially achieve a wider skirt hem, even if you have to trim the hem into a curve. But according to “zero waste” methods of patterning, the gored skirt is wasteful while the pleated rectangle skirt isn’t. That makes no sense to me.

What is wasteful, in my opinion, is making more than you will realistically use, or things that won’t last, or things you’ll only wear once and then shove into a closet never to be seen again.

[hologramcowboy]

I want to discuss the subject of heart when it comes to piggybacking off of nostalgia/a previously existing fan base for a revival or whatever

Disclaimer: this ask will touch on a lot of stuff and will be rambley but I will try and package it nicely.

So a while ago JA mentioned him and D were going to do a podcast for the show and the question that those of us in the right frame of mind had was "why?". Say what you will but the OTH podcast is doing well for itself and it has fans eating it up. It's pure nostalgia bait but the stans love it and this is because its hosted by the 3 female leads, whose characters a lot of people grew up with and looked up to. They were an essential part when analyzing the heart of the show (there are other stuff but I won't make this longer than it need to be). The heart of spn, for a lot of fans was the bond between the brothers. As codependent as they were its part of why people latched onto the show, this dysfunctional family dynamic, that being said it makes zero sense to pursue a project like that w/o JP. D is completely irrelevant to the show. Especially when you consider she has never really seen it,by JA's admission. Which leads me to my next question , why is she even a part of this production when her heart isn't in it. This just exposes it for the shameless cash grab that it is.

This show lacks heart, and it's a shame that JA seems to be latching onto it like this when it's just going to act as dead weight. Nostalgia and revivals have more of an impact when some significant time has passed because it allows a proper retrospective of the media, the actors come in with fresh eyes, in a way and this may increase production value, if heart is in it. It can be constructed to pull in older fans but also new fans(like I've only seen maybe two episodes of Gilmore Girls but I've consumed so many deep dive retrospective video essays made by fans, older and newer, of the show) similarly I loved Gossip Girl and have also consumed video essays on it(I know a video essay isn't the same but I'm hoping it helped illustrate my point)

Sidebar : if TW had been made as pure camp, maybe had JP involved in production, cut D out it could have worked.

All this to say it's important for the people inv, especially those in charge to understand WHY people enjoyed the piece of media before touching it. Otherwise it feels vapid, and like a waste of time.

This was written with so much clarity and honesty. Thank you! ♥️

Jensen should have done market research around his brand, Danneel's and possible pilot options and only after doing that he should have created one. It's key to understand your target audience and what those people deeply resonate with when it comes to the show you plan on creating a spin off off of.

Danneel has no place being involved in the SPN legacy, Jensen replaced the lead of the show, Jared, with a bimbo. How did he even think that was going to go over well? I guarantee you that his reputation took a huge hit based on that choice. He proved he's the kind of "producer" puts money into women he is sleeping with rather than making smart business choices. I think Jensen saw Jared and Gen so involved and tried, yet again, to achieve what Jared was achieving. It's a pattern with him, he only got married and had children after seeing Jared do so. The difference is Gen never claims to be anything she is not, she is humble, professional and she never overshadows Jared or tries to make things about her, she earned her role on SPN through her audition and she honors the SPN brand. Even her involvement with Walker was due to casting dynamics and it was so beautifully done you never got a sense she was being shoved down your throat or that she was misrepresenting the brand of the show in any way.

As for your sidebar: Absolutely. The only people who should have produced a spin off of revival were Jensen and Jared.

I think you explained everything beautifully, people don't resonate with the show because it is as vapid as the people producing it. The bond between Sam and Dean was Supernatural and this prequel won't ever come close to the depth of that love and what it inspired in people.

[binofathousandparts]

Nuhvok Va Kal, and by extension, Nuhvok Va, is right up there with Pahrak Va Kal and Pahrahk Va for me. After I had gotten Pahrak Va as a set, there was zero chance of letting a full twenty-four hour period slip by without grabbing Nuhvok Va.

To be completely honest, Earth and Stone have always been my personal favorites of the primary six elements for Bionicle. Pohatu Mata was my ACTUAL first ever sets, and from there, my love for his whole elemental aesthetic and vibe extended to Onua Mata as well.

My only regret was that I didn't have enough money at the time to get him back then 😔

So like the Pahrak Va and Nuhvok Va sets, I wasted NO time in constructing this hjönkle, both as a physical moc, and a render in studio.

Fluff under the cut, should you be interested.

By your tools, your grand intention, the happenstance alignment were as sculptor's clay to your very touch.

That which becomes the finest of statuary.

Purpose carved from meaninglessness; the chance generation of beauty, excavated into intentionality. That which served no reason ceased, randomness elided by the sculptor's art.

The patterned scraping by the claws of your subterranean acolytes caligraphied their wanting prayers. Their reflection translated in the geometries of the crystallized neon that were your eyes.

"Guide us," Spoke the cursive of their tools. "Give us meaning, so that by our meaning we may prove our existence."

And so you begin to sculpt once more, serving as templated example, to the growing spred of veins beneath crust and cavern.

To clean it all, the land must have example of what is to be considered clean.

Oppressive, and immovable, as the earth that you comprise.

Nuhvok.

[thedressylibrarian]

For some reason, I had the colour combination of blue and yellow stuck in my head and nothing in my wardrobe to scratch that itch. Luckily, my fabric stash is still pretty stacked from my cosplay days. This whole outfit took me an afternoon to make.

The skirt is a simple gathered, slitted skirt made of cotton from the 80s, that a coworker gifted me. I usually prefer the fullness of a circle skirt, but gathered skirts are just so much easier to hem, and you have almost zero waste.

The top is made of jersey. I traced one of my favourite jumpers for the pattern. To add some detail, I cut out two hearts from a matching sequin fabric and topstitched it onto the shirt. It's not that noticeable, especially not in pictures, but I really like the subtle sparkles this adds.

Top: handmade

Skirt: madmade

Shoes: Charlie Stone