To begin my process of the zero waste dress, I started draping with 1 yard of various knit fabrics. At first, I wanted to incorporate mesh into my design, so I started cutting out triangles from the sample knit fabric I had. After numerous drapes with big and small triangles, I still didn’t feel satisfied with the shape I was getting, and I was extremely afraid to cut into the fabric. The idea of incorporating mesh in a triangular form across the body was so engrained in my mind for the design, that I felt that I couldn’t go further without it. After feeling exhausted at my attempts, and still not being satisfied, I started over. Being afraid to cut into the fabrics, I knew that I would rather work with regular shapes than with random cuts on the fabric.
What my black fabric looked like after cutting into it:
I used a scrap olive green fabric I had to play with and cut into pretending its the mesh that I was hoping to put in later on.
Initial Draping :
When I was still very flustered about the design after constant drapes, I decided to play with how I envisioned the neckline and decided to play with the idea of a drawstring.
Playing with drawstring options for neckline:
After playing with the draw string I decided to play with my real fabric and not be so afraid about cutting it. I decided to play with simple rectangular shapes for the garment and manipulating the fabric to create dimension
This is how I cut my yard of fabric, one rectangle for the front and one for the back.
- To add another design element to the front I gathered the dress by hand around the waist and played with it to see how it would look, centered, or to one side. I reinforced the gathers by adding another piece of fabric at the back and sewing through each gather.
Gathering the waist:
I positioned the back rectangular piece near the waistline so it was longer and I kept the back, backless. I liked the idea of the bottom piece tailing on the ground.
To keep the back and top half secure I added the same string that I used for the neckline, halfway down on from the front and top half. This strings wraps around the back and is adjustable.
For the finishing I used a :
Ban-roll Finishing Baby hem
This was my final outcome of the garment: It fit me extremely well because I consistently put it on myself to make sure it fits according to my body during the process of making it. I took in two inches from either sides of the back piece to give the dress a more fitted shape. I wanted two long slits in it as well because I felt thats a super trendy in fashion at the moment.
I definitely see myself wearing this garment, the strings give it a very beauty vibe. Even though this is my first time really trying to keep it simple in my design. I am happy with my outcome, and hope to explore zero waste even further in my future designs.
Designer Statement :
Knitwear Dress: Zero Waste
To begin my process of the zero waste dress, I started draping with 1 yard of various knit fabrics. At first, I wanted to incorporate mesh into my design, so I started cutting out triangles from the sample knit fabric I had. After numerous drapes with big and small triangles, I still didn’t feel satisfied with the shape I was getting, and I was extremely afraid to cut into the fabric. The idea of incorporating mesh in a triangular form across the body was so engrained in my mind for the design, that I felt that I couldn’t go further without it. After feeling exhausted at my attempts, and still not being satisfied, I started over. Being afraid to cut into the fabrics, I knew that I would rather work with regular shapes than with random cuts on the fabric.
I decided to try to keep it simple, so I cut 1 yard of my knit fabric into two rectangles, one for the front and one for the back. I thought about the neckline and the idea of creating a halter neck dress that had a somewhat beachy vibe to it. After much deliberation, I decided to create a drawstring neck line that tied up in the back. To give dimension to my dress, I decided to hand sew gathers across the waist line. As I kept exploring, I realized I wanted the dress to be backless, so I attached the second rectangle to a lower point of the rectangle in the front: creating my backless look. Furthermore, I was afraid of how stable the top of the dress would be since it didn’t have a back, so I continued the theme of having an adjustable string, and sewed it on to the top to wrap around the body. For the finish of the dress, I wanted to do something beyond what we had been taught in class; I had just learnt how to do a ‘ban-roll baby hem’ and decided to use it all over the garment. For this zero waste garment, I choose to keep it simple but also retain elegance in some form. Never having worked with a black fabric, I was pretty excited to create something that I felt I could see myself wearing. One of my favorite elements of my dress is the strings, they remind me of beach and swimwear. Furthermore, I added two long slits on the sides, since I feel that added an edgy feel to an otherwise rather elegant and straight silhouette. Approaching this zero waste garment was definitely a very big challenge, however, for the first time I feel like I created something I would genuinely want to wear myself.
