How to make clothes from fabric scraps: sewing patterns that use under a metre of fabric

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Especially when sewing garments for adults, large fabric scraps often remain unused. But sewing clothes from fabric remnants is not always easy and often requires creativity. Or simply a good pattern with low fabric consumption! That’s why I asked myself which sewing patterns (for adults) are best for create garments from leftover fabrics.

I passed this question on to my Instagram community and received so much great feedback which I’d like to share with you. Here are the most frequently mentioned sewing patterns (and a few more ideas and tips) to create garments with under one meter fabric consumption.

Zero Waste Clothes: Tips on how to make clothes from fabric scraps

Use sewing patterns with small pattern pieces

In order to turn your fabric remnants into new garments, sewing patterns with small pattern pieces are particularly suitable, as they fit better onto your fabric remnants. In addition, that makes it easier to combine individual fabric scraps with each other.

Get creative with modern patchwork

There are so many amazing garments made with patchwork from fabric scraps. Particularly simple tops can look great with creative color combinations. Check out my Pinterest board for some inspiration.

Mix colors, patterns and textures

Mixing colors and structures from different fabric scraps can look amazing combined.

Add extra seams

This tip always helps when I upcycle and repurpos old clothes and don’t have a lot of fabric to use. Especially when the pattern is lined or has other parts that aren’t visble from the outside. You can use those parts wonderfully to add and hide seams. You can find an example of this on my YouTube video or in my Instagram reel for my asymmetrical crop top. With my shirt upcycling project I only had 0.7 m fabric to create a whole new garment.

Choose patterns where the grainline is less important

This saves a significant amount on fabric and allows you to sew entire garments from your fabrics scraps. However, this is more suitable for advanced sewists. As a sewing beginner: I recommend to stick to the pattern, as the grainline significantly influences the fall and fit of the finished garment.

Sewing Patterns under 1 metre fabric consumption on YouTube (in German)

Sewing clothes from fabric scraps: sewing patterns with low fabric consumption

Thanks to the many tips on Instagram, I have summarized the most beautiful patterns for adults with low fabric consumption. The fabric consumption for each pattern in any size is less than one meter. Please note, however, that this may vary depending on the pattern of your fabric. LET’S GO!

Sewing clothes from fabric scraps: Sewing Patterns to recycle fabric scraps

Using fabrics down to the last centimeters is the most sustainable way of making new garments. Therefore, it is particularly important that we also recycle fabric scraps. Kids clothes and small accessories are obvious, but with the right sewing pattern you can also sew wonderful garments for adults from fabric scraps. Simple shirts and tops as well as skirts and shorts with a low fabric consumption of less than one meter work perfectly. Since these are often simple sewing patterns, there are also many free patterns with which you can use up your leftover fabrics.

Do you have more pattern ideas with low fabric consumption? Just leave a comment and I’ll add the pattern to the list.

Happy sewing!

Maria

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Zero Waste Clothes: Tips on how to make clothes from fabric scraps