Cover Girl

While packing for my recent cruise, I sadly realized all of my cover-ups/beach dresses are at my parent's beach house 600 miles away. Rather than running to Target or Old Navy, I saw an opportunity to try sewing clothing again...except the last time I sewed clothing, I was 12 and I had a pattern. A quick visit to my local fabric store did not produce a pattern either so I did something totally crazy for a beginner, I winged it.

One of my favorite sewing blogs, provides a tutorial for sewing sans pattern, so I let Dana guide my way towards a great (hopefully) cover-up. For this project you will need 2.5-3 yards of cotton fabric (I used batik), fabric scissors, thread in a corresponding color to your fabric, and a basic sewing machine.

1) Wash and pre-shrink your fabric. Use a warm iron to press out any wrinkles.

2) I used a loose fitting sleep tee (use a tshirt/tunic/dress with a shape you are trying to mimic) to shape the body and arm holes of the cover up. Pin the body of the t-shirt to the wrong side of the fabric and then cut out the body twice (for the front and back) or if you have enough fabric, fold the fabric in half and cut once.

3) I wanted a neckline with a little more pizazz than a basic crew neck, so I traced the neckline from a tunic onto a piece of firm cardstock and cut it out. Pin the cut cardstock pattern to the wrong side of one piece of the fabric body and cut it out.

4) Once your neckline is cut, pin a 1/4-1/2" hem all the way around both pieces of the body (around the neckline, arm holes and down the sides of the torso).

5) Pin the right sides of your fabric body together and sew the shoulders and down the torso. I wanted to leave the sides slightly slit (say that 3 times fast) for maximum comfort so I stopped my hem 3" from the bottom on both sides.

6) Turn your sewn coverup right side out, cut your threads and press your seams. Woila!

P.S. I know I owe you a picture of the finished product but my *new* Nikon D3100 camera is holding the images hostage until its USB cord arrives and I can retrieve my pictures. Hooray for a new camera and better photos on this blog and in life!