Birgitta Helmersson Zero Waste shirt

Apr 18

Apr 18 Birgitta Helmersson Zero Waste shirt

This is my second project from the Birgitta Helmersson Zero Waste book I got for Christmas.

It uses just 90cm of fabric, although you do need it to be full width. I once again didn't pay attention to the width when ordering my fabric and this ramie is just 138 cms wide, which is at the edge of what is recommended for my chest size. Thankfully it worked out, although I definitely wouldn't have wanted it to be any narrower.

I found this cutting layout easier to follow than the one for the wrap top I made previously from this book. You fold the fabric in half before drawing the lines, which makes it a lot more manageable to do on an ordinary kitchen table. The fact that the fabric is quite substantial and stable also helped.

You need a couple of templates for this, for the neckline/back facing, and the sticky outy bit (technical term!) for the sleeve head. I randomly found some of that stable dotted tracing paper in a box recently and that worked perfectly

The instructions again were not the clearest so I'm not sure how beginner friendly. My main issue is that it's photos not diagrams, and you just can't see what's going on that well. I had a lot of problems with trying to understand the way the neck facing is attached - you leave a hole in a couple of places but this isn't explicitly stated so I was majorly confused. I was *that* close to chucking out the facing altogether and just finishing the neckline straight, but I'm glad I persevered, cos I used homemade bias binding and it's pretty. It also gives a nice curve at the back of the shirt which holds the pleat in place and presumably makes it less likely split open, which often happens with these kind of pleat designs.

For buttons I used some from my stash. Buttonholes were a nightmare as usual, my automatic setting is rubbish. It managed 1/5 buttonholes properly, 1/5 it almost finished, and the rest I had to basically do completely manually. But worth it, maybe one day I'll get over my buttonhole phobia1

I'm really pleased with the end result, and I think I will wear it lots. It's almost like a little jacket with this substantial fabric, and I'd like to retry it with something a bit lighter next. I'm currently thinking about what short lengths I have in my stash.