Theres a reason I’m standing in the street in front of an old ford truck…
Its not a very exciting reason. Just that I am in a busy freelance season & pressed for time thus feeling lazy and not wanting to take the time to set up my usual backdrop got me in the peculiar from of mind that this row of trees & old pick up truck would be a good backdrop for this blog post. (Insert laughing crying emoji).
What IS exciting is that this is my make for the #shareyourfabricstash challenge I’m hosting with my sweet friend Jackie. You can read all about it in this post, but the gist is that you take either a whole piece or partial piece of fabric from your stash you no longer plan to use, and swap for a similar piece from your sewing bestie’s stash. You each make something out of the shared stash and post it on instagram using our hashtag. For extra fun, you can have your followers vote on their favorites!! Scroll to the end to grab a share graphic and join us!
For our challenge, Jackie sent me this striped rayon challis she wasn’t completely in love with but had way too much of. She kept half and we both committed to making something out of it – keeping it a secret from the other one till our big reveal!
Something about the light and airy nature of this fabric immediately made me think: ogden dress. I’ve been wanting to do this gathered summer ogden cami dress hack for quite a while. I just love the ease of this style of dress on a hot summer day.
I had a very limited amount of fabric to work with. So to do this hack I marked on the paper pattern where I wanted the bodice to end (based on just holding it up to my body and eyeing it – dont forget to add seam allowance!) and cut the bodice pieces first. Then I squared off the remaining fabric, matched the selvedge edges and sewed a seam. I then gathered this piece into the bodice. Would you believe I still ended up cutting some off the length!? #shorties4lyfe! I had enough scrap pieces to sew on some cute patch pockets also! I chose to alternate the stripes because I feel like it adds interest to the dress and shows off the style lines more.
This fabric was SUPER lightweight. Great for summer, but of course this means I had to line it. I chose to do this with a basic muslin, mostly because its what I had on hand that matched and was an appropriate weight. It works great for the bodice but I really should have lined the bottom in a more flowy fabric. Thankfully the dress still maintains its easy drape.
SKIP TO THE END?
Pattern: True Bias Ogden Cami
Size Sewn: 0
Fabric: Rayon Challis given to me by Jackie for #shareyourfabricstash
Notions: none
Difficulty: very easy
Adjustments: Hacked into a dress by adding a gathered skirt
Finishes: Fully lined
Sew it again? Yes! I’d love to make one in a darker print where the skirt doesn’t have to be lined.
Sadly, I was so rushed in the picture taking process that I forgot to take video for y’all! Maybe I’ll go back and add it next time I get the backdrop out.
Would you like to join our challenge? Grab the image below and share it on your instagram to spread the word. This is a casual, no-deadline challenge. So find a friend and dont forget to use the hashtag!
Happy Shared Stash Sewing!
Karin says
I actually really like the truck and trees in the background 😀 adds character to the photo!