Wouldn’t a vacation be dreamy right now? Travel may be hard for many this summer. We are fixing up our living spaces, yards and thinking about what we can do for fun right now. What if I made myself some beach clothes and just pretended we were on a dream vacation?

I was gifted 1.5 yards of a beautiful cotton gauze that naturally loved to wrinkle. At first I thought a kimono – a long, thin, and sleeved kimono for the pool. Once again there was not enough fabric to pull that off. I draped a short kimono but being short and curvy I was not feeling this.

One of my best friends moved to Florida and I remember shopping with her and how much of the beach clothing was made from material like this gauze. I knew I had enough for shorts and since the print was so busy perhaps a little tank.

Coincidently, that same friend gave me a book from Kwik Sew of master patterns. I suggest if you see one of these at a yard sale, get it! The patterns can be hacked for so many other garments and the book has great directions.

If you are going to be wearing a garment with the wrinkles make sure you do not pre-press before cutting. This will stretch it out. Hand and finger press it as flat as possible. If you do pre-press your fabric your garment may come out too small once it’s washed.

Playing with the stripes was my favorite part. I used all of the scraps sewn together to make the little imperfect top. Another Frankenstein project because I love zero waste.

 

Sewing was really easy with this fabric, just like you would a regular cotton. It does make a ton of fabric dust so watch out for itchy noses and fabric boogers!

Every single thing I make my husband has to see me in it. The first thing out of his mouth with this one was, “Guess which one of your friends that outfit reminds me of?” He was talking about my friend Brenda from Florida. It’s wonderful to have friends that inspire.

I enjoyed the simplicity of this project and it’s incredibly comfortable to wear. If I were to do it again I would have left the pin tuck out of the front and back.

Behind the scenes~

My friend Scott Ryan let me use his beach photos for my blog. Check out more of his awesome photography on instagram, Rawnsfoto. Thanks Scott!

Thank you for reading,

Tracy McElfresh

Dream it! Sew it!

Tracy McElfresh
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