Zero Waste Pattern Design

In researching a grant I might apply for, I found a few interesting sites that focus on fashion and zero waste pattern drafting. The pattern pieces fit the whole piece of fabric without any waste of material. The resulting images of interlocking pattern pieces are beautiful and it is fascinating to see how they fit perfectly into rectangles of fabric. It is interesting to see these pieces take on three dimensional form as sewn garments. Precarious Design is by a New Zealand artist. The Outsapop blog has a posting on zero waste fashion that is really interesting.

The artist Timo Rissanen, Assistant Professor in Fashion Design and Sustainability at Parsons N.Y., has a useful and inspiring blog. In fact, it was through his blog that I found many of the other resources. Below is a sample of Mr. Rissanen's work.































It is interesting to note that the Japanese kimono is a zero waste garment. A traditional bolt of kimono fabric is a standard width. This width determines the width of the two back panels, the two front panels and width of the kimono sleeves; they are all the same width.

Below: Image of pattern from Precarious Design.