No Waste Sewing (Almost!)

I made a thing! Not just anything, a Hangeroc inspired dress, with functional pockets and a fun swishy hem line. And this entire dress only took two yards of fabric. Yep, two yards.

Why is that number important? I mean, it's not that hard to make a dress with two yards... is it? Actually, it is. For a dress with an ample swingy shape that fits a medium sized frame two yards is almost a miracle. Two yards of fabric means saving lots of money (have you seen the price of fabric?) And also saving a lot of waste.

Let's talk scraps. Because I have lots of scraps. (Seriously, lots) And I LOVE scraps, cute little bits that are a memory of making a piece of clothing. I get bags of scraps from family, friends, estate sales, the local craft shop... sewing makes scraps. 

 This, this is all the scraps I have from making that dress. A few strip from squaring off the end of the fabric, the corners of my pockets, and those triangles are from straightening one section of hem. I think with some fiddling I could do away with that as well.

 How? Well, for inspiration I went back in history, waaaaay back! Consider this, if you have to hand wash, card and pick, handspin, dye, weave, and full every square inch of fabric in a garment, you ain't wasting it! Medieval reenactors have come up with a scheme for making an "Apron Dress" which has only straight line cuts and no waste.

The main shape of the dress is on the bottom of my drawing, the triangles above become the extra gores to make it ample and full, straps, facings, and pockets are all cut from the rest. The main difference from this and a reproduction piece is that I added some shaping for a modern silhouette. Thus, I needed a closure instead of having it loose enough to simply pull over my head.

 And here we are, a few hours of sewing, two yards of fabric - a cute, functional piece. And almost no scraps! Whatever will I use for decorating bags...