Holiday DIY wear

So I’m back from my fantastic last minute holiday in Turkey!  Had the most amazing time, enjoyed every single moment of it – it was simply magical.

I wore my teal halterneck pillowcase top on one of the first days we were there, it was a really useful top to throw on and off, but I was a bit wary of wearing it for too long in case I ended up with a high tan line!  I wore strapless tops a lot of the time.  Here’s a photo of me wearing it on one of the first days, when I was still lily white!

However, all my grand plans for dress #5 (the poolside dress) went awry – my own fault for leaving it pretty much til the last minute on the Sunday, really.  I must have somehow measured incorrectly for the top front / bust section of the dress, as the high waist was actually sitting on top of my chest!  No idea how I got it so wrong, but after getting that far I really didn’t have time (read: couldn’t be bothered) to start again and make a new top section for the dress.  Also after making it up that far in the cotton lining fabric I was using, I realised that the fabric wasn’t quite as thin and lightweight as I’d previously thought, and it sat a little too stiffly to be quite right for a poolside dress.

So I chucked the idea, but I’m glad I had a bash at it, albeit totally unsuccessfully – it made me get a bit creative thinking about how I could embellish this plan off-white fabric, I had all my ribbons, lace, buttons and contrast fabrics out, and enjoyed thinking about all the different ways I could perk it up a bit.

When I got back, I also noticed that on The Sew Weekly the theme for this week also happens to be ‘embellishment’!  So I’ve been enjoying the contributions there and tucking away some of those ideas too.  If you haven’t already been over there, check it out if you get time.  There really are lots of ways to embellish a garment.

So no dress #5 as yet – I’m going to finish dress #4 next and then onto a completely new dress #5.  Or should it be dress #6?? I don’t know!

Dress #5 - poolside dress

I started looking at simple poolside dresses, the kind you can just throw on over your bikini, thinking if I could find a really simple elasticated style then I could probably quickly make one in an afternoon ready for my holiday this week.

After looking through a few, I settled on the style of this Accessorize dress as it looked relatively simple to recreate:

The only suitable fabric I have available is a lightweight cream cotton that I picked up recently intending to use as a lining for dress #4 (the tweed work dress), which in theory should work fine - but it'll be rather dull looking in plain cream (could just end up looking like a muslin!) so I need to prettify it with some sort of embellishment. I have a number of bits of ribbon and lace so I'm currently looking for ideas about what I can do to improve the look of it, maybe by adding some colour.

I'll let you know how I get on!

Burda magazine pattern - halterneck holiday top

On Sunday afternoon I was feeling a bit restless, and super excited about my last minute holiday with a girl friend to hot hot Turkey (off next week!). I decided to put my restless energy to good use by sewing something, a short project that I could finish in an afternoon.

I didn't want to use any of my patterns as they're nearly all dress patterns and I thought a top or shirt would be a quicker project, so I took out a recent copy of Burda magazine I bought to take on a few days away we had recently. It's the first time I've bought Burda magazine and I was absolutely astounded by what great value for money it was - it contains more than 100 free patterns! I couldn't believe it! I knew I'd be able to find something quick and easy in there.

I really wanted to use an old pillowcase that had been stuck in my stash for ages, I had no other real use for it as it doesn't have a second matching pillow, it was all sad and lonely on its own! Seemed like a perfect fabric for a first attempt at a new (albeit quick and easy) pattern. It was a dark teal colour, with a prominent sequined flower design on the front. Being a pillowcase, obviously I was very limited in fabric width and the pattern had to be appropriate for that. I quickly came across this great drawstring halter neck top/dress, perfect for wearing on holiday in Turkey!



And here's the glossy model example of the dress view, which is always nice to see before starting the project:

So I set about making up the pattern, and reading the instructions in detail since this was the first time I was making this pattern. It was clear that one pillowcase wasn't quite going to stretch to a dress! So the top it would have to be, fine by me though as it'd be nice to have a new top to wear with my shorts on holiday. Now understandably to save space, Burda have had to put all the patterns on top of each other in different colours, and you have to trace out the one you want to use. Simples! Or NOT - take a look at this example of one part of the pattern:



Horrible, isn't it! The biggest problem is actually finding the piece you want in the first place - after that, not so bad. Anyway, my pillowcase was slightly narrower than the pattern called for, but I thought it'd be fiiiiiiiine and just went ahead anyway :D

I centred the pattern around where the sequin flower was, so that it'd be sat nicely on the bottom hem of the top, and went from there.


...and here's the final product! I really must learn to be more photogenic, if that can be learned - or at least look a bit happier about wearing this! A bit baggy in style, and a bit longer than I would have probably chosen, but it will do very nicely for a slight hint of glamour on holiday, maybe for wear to a restaurant one evening?

Just the facts...
Fabric: one pillowcase, it rings a bell that I picked this up a couple of years ago for 20p at a car boot sale, but I couldn't swear to it!
Pattern: Burda magazine June 2012, view 118A
Year: Contemporary
Notions: 35"ish elastic for the back and sides up to the halterneck(from stash - donated a while ago by my lovely mother); ribbon for the drawstring (from stash - donated in a tin of goodies by my grandma, happened to be a perfect match in colour!)
Time to complete: 2-3 hours, most of which was deciphering and tracing the pattern!
First worn: Other than the photo, for my hols next week!
Wear again? Yes!
Total cost: Basically nothing - unless you include the price of the magazine, and the 20p pillow case!