It’s nice to have a little challenge to spur on your sewing, especially if it’s been a minute since you’ve made a new outfit. Greenstyle has an annual challenge to sew at least three new items using their patterns during a four week period in the spring. I looked at it as a mini capsule if I were going away for a weekend. Items that worked with clothing I already made, and filled a hole in my wardrobe.
My first two makes were Bobbi Brami‘s. I love that they have a built-in bra, and that they are super comfortable. I’ve worn the blue star print Brami to step class with Moxi bike shorts. It also looks great with my white Windward Shorts. This is a great outfit for walking around, shopping, or running errands.
The second Bobbi Brami was cut at bra length, and hacked into a dress. Simply cut two rectangles which when sewn together will be at least 10-12″ greater in circumference than your hips. This is super important if you’re using woven fabric for the skirt. A pretty dress is essential for a weekend away. It can be worn to brunch or dinner. It can also double as a nightgown, so one more opportunity for wear!
I used french seams to sew the side seams of the delicate cotton voile together to ensure that no matter how often this gets washed and worn, it won’t fray. French seams are made by sewing your fabric wrong sides together with a narrow seam allowance, then pressing and sewing the fabric with right sides together, with a slightly wider seam allowance. I love that my Bernina 790+ needle position can be moved five places to the right and five places to the left of center. This really helps with incrementally making your seam allowance bigger or smaller.
I love the empire waistline look of this hack. With the cotton voile skirt, it’s giving me Bridgerton vibes. Since my hips are 40″, I cut two pieces of fabric 27″ wide by 25″ high. Even with the extra fabric the french seams take up, the skirt is perfectly flowy. I used a 1″ hem which is substantial enough, and ended the skirt at just above the knee. I am tall though, so you could probably get a more couture 2″ or 3″ hem out of that 25″ height if you’re shorter than me.
I gathered the top of the skirt until it was the same width as the outer layer of Brami, and attached it with a zigzag stitch, finishing it off with a 4-thread overlock. You can use a soft flowy knit or a soft and/or drapey woven for the skirt. It would look lovely with a maxi length skirt, though I would reinforce the waist seam with elastic if the fabric is heavy or maxi length.
The third and fourth pieces are an Endurance Bra and Tangled Swim Bottom swimsuit. As mentioned in this post, I always hack the Endurance to not have a zipper. And for this make, I also shortened the band by 5/8″ at center front, up to 1-1/4″ at center back to give it a more “swimsuit” look.
I used size 31D and hacked narrow double straps. The Tangled Swim bottom pattern has a separate waistband, but I was working with literal scraps of fabric and just added 1-1/8″ to the height of the bottoms so that I could turn the top under with 3/4″ wide swim elastic, just like you do with the 3/8″ swim elastic around the legs.
A previously made Tidal Skirt is perfect for throwing on over the swimsuit and walking to the beach. There are pockets for your phone or keys, and it would certainly be a great addition to my weekend bag.
All in all I love every piece I made. I didn’t photograph the combo, but my blue star print Bobbi Brami has turquoise stars in the print. So if you wanted a tankini look, you could pair the Brami with the Tangled Swim Bottoms for an additional swimsuit look.
The details:
The blue star print Bobbi Brami is a nylon spandex deadstock Speedo fabric called stars and stars.
The purple nylon spandex swim for the Bobbi Brami dress was from the sadly defunct Phee Fabrics. The white floral/leaf print cotton voile was from the also defunct JoAnn Fabrics.
The turquoise and white pencil stripe nylon spandex used for the Endurance Bra and Tangled Swim Bottoms was a larger scrap purchased from a fabric destash.
The elastic used in the Bobby Brami’s, Endurance Bra, and Tangled Swim Bottoms came from Wawak and Sew Sassy.
Thank you for reading and sharing my love of patterns, sewing, fabric, and cute weekend wear. The links to GreenStyle may be affiliate links (if I did them properly!) which means that I may earn a few pennies if you use my links without it costing you anything extra. Since this is my blog and represents me, I always give my honest opinion about any patterns, fabric, or supplies that I talk about. I do like knowing whether the time I spend writing posts actually interests people enough that they take a look at the patterns I review, but I write for me. It’s one more creative pursuit that I hope is helpful or interesting to others. I write to share my love of sewing and to encourage others to love it as much as I do! ❤
Sew Beach Life 