This month’s Simple Sew make is
the Simple Sew Kimono Dress - a wrap style dress with a large tie at the waist, except that mine is not going to be a dress. When we were
asked for fabric and pattern choices for this make we were in the midst of an
extremely hot summer and I had been sweltering in my winter dressing gown in
the mornings, so I decided that I would like a summer ‘robe’.
The fabric is a
beautiful Lady McElroy cotton lawn very generously supplied by Doughty's Online. It sewed beautifully, ironed really well and feels lovely on.
I cut a size 12, but
kept the length of the size 20 - I like my dressing gown/robes to be quite
long. This style has grown on sleeves which means that sleeve and the body are
all one piece. I quite wanted longer sleeves but the front pieces are quite big
due to the wrap and the sleeve, so a longer sleeve would have meant that the
piece wouldn’t fit on the fabric.
I also wanted pockets
so having sewn the shoulder seams together, I pinned the side seams,
tried it on and worked out where I wanted to add the in seam pockets. My
winter dressing gown had large patch pockets, but I felt that wasn’t the look I
wanted for this. I used the pocket piece from the Lapwing trousers and placed
it roughly where I wanted my hand to rest.
Having put in the
pockets and sewn up the side seams the robe was looking pretty good. The
instructions have you finish the edge of the front, then turn and stitch down.
I thought this would not give the finish that I wanted, particularly
around the neckline - and this is where
this project started to take its time -
I decided to make some bias tape to finish the edge. I have
recently taken out of use a duvet set that was the exact pinky lilac colour of
the flamingos. I used a tutorial by Colette for continuous
bias binding. This technique is a bit fiddly but I find it much easier than joining
lots of strips of fabric. I didn’t think to take pictures of what I did so have
included the link. Quite a small square of fabric makes a surprisingly
long piece of bias tape! I machine stitched the bias on to the edge, then
folded it over and hand stitched all the
way around the front. Having done that, I then hand stitched the sleeve hems and the
hem of the garment.
I used some the bias
tape to make a rouleau and used it to make a couple of ties for inside the robe
to help keep it closed.
I added belt loops to
stop the belt from falling off and I also made a hanging loop so that it can
hang on the bathroom door
I am very pleased
with it and a little bit disappointed that the weather has become much cooler,
so I won’t be wearing this properly until next summer. It is a very easy sew
and would be quite quick if you didn’t add bias tape and hand stitching to the
mix!
