Patchwork Cleo Skirt from scraps

Zero-waste patterns are having a moment, but it basically defeats the purpose if you’re sewing a “zero-waste” pattern with a new piece of fabric whose production created an additional amount of waste and/or pollution. I think many of us took up sewing in order to have a lower environmental impact, but unless you’re applying that ethos to all aspects of your sewing practice (type of fabric, how it’s produced, the amount of water it takes to grow and dye the fiber, the amount of pollution produced during production, the amount of waste fabric you throw away, the type of paper your pattern is printed on, whether your pattern contains plastic, whether you recycle or compost your pattern eventually…well, you get the picture), it amounts to individual-level greenwashing to claim you are helping the earth by sewing something “zero waste.”

Anyway, this skirt was nearly* “zero-waste,” as it is made up of leftover scraps that I’ve saved over the years from other projects made of double gauze, shirting, and linen. It somehow it feels better to me to make something out of scraps than to buy a new piece of fabric, and I think that’s true, but it’s also not practical to have to create fabric every time you want to sew something, so I’ve been considering other aspects of my sewing practice and their impact as well. Right now this seems utterly necessary if humans intend to survive on this planet.

I posted some in-progress pics of this skirt a few months ago, and here it is, finished. I used my Cleo skirt pattern, which is definitely a TNT (tried and true) pattern for me; I have a lot of Cleos and I wear them a lot. This is a combo of View A and View B — I used the pockets from View A, and the length from View B, plus a couple of extra inches because I am taller than the drafted height (5’6) for the pattern.

I often end up with strips of fabric that run vertically along the selvages, or an extra half or quarter yard here or there. I don’t throw any fabric scraps away, ever; I bring the unusable ones to the local recycle center which takes used clothing and other fibers, and I save or give to quilting friends the extra pieces that are large enough to be turned into something else. Such as this skirt.

To create the patchwork, I used my 4” wide ruler to cut horizontal and vertical strips from my scraps that were roughly 4” wide. With quilting, it helps me to have some parameters to work with that help keep the project from getting overwhelming. If I was only able to create strips that were 1-2” wide, I put them together to create larger blocks, and then added longer borders until I reached a square or rectangle that was about the size of a fat quarter. I tried to alternate between small strips and large strips, and pieced the strips together when I didn't have a strip long enough to go next to another one. Then I put all of those blocks together to create two large pieces (one for the front, one for the back) that were a little larger than the front and back pattern pieces for the pattern.

I love how colorful this skirt is and how it basically goes with everything.

Just for fun, here’s a little collage of the other projects that these fabric scraps came from:

In some cases, I made more than one garment out of the material (for instance, that orange shirting fabric was both a Trillium dress and a Cleo skirt). The only one of these garments that was never worn was the little newborn-sized Geranium dress with sleeves in the lower left. This was a sample that was part of a set intended to showcase the different features of the Geranium Expansion Pack, so it currently hangs on the wall in my studio as a sample. The rest have all been worn and loved by me and my kiddos. I love that when I wear this skirt I have a visual reminder of all of the other things I’ve created in the past with these fabrics.

From top left: Yellow Josephine, Double Gauze Charlie for Hugo, Cleo skirt, Pale Pink Josephine

Middle row: Double Gauze shirt for Hugo, Ruffled Pink Concoction, Linen Geranium Dress, Double Gauze Charlie (repeat)

Bottom row: Peach Geranium with fitted sleeve, Orange Trillium with pom poms, White Ruby with poms, Linen Geranium Dress (repeat)

*I did have four small pieces of “waste” when I created the cut-outs for the pockets, and a bit more from trimming the edges of the fabric. I did realize after proclaiming that this skirt was “entirely made of scraps” that that statement is technically untrue, as there is one fabric in there (the rusty brown) that was a small quarter yard piece of linen that I picked up at Verb for Keeping Warm with Sonya Phillips when I was in the Bay Area back in….hmm, maybe 2016? How time flies. It’s been a long time to hang onto such a beautiful little piece of linen, so I’m glad it finally got a chance to jump out of the pile, and I’ve been working on another project with the rest of the fabric.

What do you think? Do you have enough scraps that you could put together a skirt? Sewing something out of scraps has a low environmental impact and it creates something that is truly one of a kind. I definitely recommend trying it!

PS. The Cleo Skirt is available in both print and PDF formats in my shop

PPS. Want to see the INSIDE of this skirt? Check out my post about the insides HERE