I made this summer pool wrap for the first Summer Essentials Sew-Along back in 2010. I always loved the colours and fabric, but the fit was less than flattering. As you can see, even on Mrs. Singer, it is very boxy. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to rework this item to make it wearable. What I really wanted was to have a version that was fitted, flattering, and with the option to wear to work, if I chose.
I started by adding 6 contour darts: two in the front, two in the back and one on each of the wrapped flaps. I took in the side seams by 1.5" and removed the too-wide bias tape and replaced it with 1/2" instead. I finished the armholes without the bias tape showing, as I wanted to highlight the curve of the flap at the front of the dress.
The raspberry polka dot buttons are purely decorative but add the tailored detail I was looking for. Besides, who doesn't love polka dot buttons?! LOL! I also really like the contrast raspberry button holes.
This is one of my most successful refashions and I am really happy with the results. The dress has no fastenings, beyond the decorative buttons, and is a breeze to wear. It is also lovely and cool, which is perfect for our hot Canadian summers.
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GIVEAWAY
As promised, I have 2.5 metres of lovely striped seersucker to giveaway to one lucky Spark participant! I love the orange and aqua combination and if you look closely, you can see shiny silver stripes running through it for a bit of sparkle.
Once you have uploaded your photo of your finished item into the Flickr group, be sure to leave me a comment for a chance to win!
The giveaway is open until July 4, 2012 at 11:59 p.m EST with the winner announced on July 5th.
13 comments:
Neat! The refashioned version is, well, much for fashionable! I like it a lot!
Oh, this is pretty! Such lovely cheerful colours. I really, really like this.
What a fun cheery wardrobe item, how could you possibly be sad wearing or looking at that - love it!
Wow. I bought the same fabric from Fabric Depot last year and I was supposed to make it up last summer. I'm so going to make it up this season.
You've version is wonderful.
Great refashion -- your additions really flatter your body shape and those buttons are just precious!
Thank you so much, everyone, for your lovely compliments. :)
What a fantastic refashion! Those lovely colors and the polka dot buttons are so cheery!
How fun! I wish I had a cute cover up like this to wear to the beach!
Love your retro fashion sense!
This is really nice Sarah and an encouragement to me to actually try and rectify all of those projects that just didn't work out as planned.In fact the dress I made for the summer spaks itself is a miserable failure as it is too baggy up top and needs to be taken in...but I haven't had the mental alertness to get to it so far so once again I have missed the deadline...!
What a cute dress! It looks great. :)
It's really fun to breathe new life into an otherwise meh sewing project, isn't it? It looks sooo much more flattering now. (Lovely giveaway fabric, too! Thanks for the chance to win that!)
Aww, I really like that wrap so I'm happy you could refashion it into something to wear more frequently! I love the addition of the cute polka-dot buttons!
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