Made by a Fabricista: Maxi Looks for Summer

Happy Saturday All!!

This summer break seems to be flying by so quickly and I only have one month before I return to virtual teaching. After parent surveys, union, and school board meetings our school district is returning to virtual teaching and learning next month. The cases in Miami Dade County have surged over the last few weeks and with over 70K cases in the county where I teach, and a growing 300K + cases in Florida, I don’t even know when things will return back to normal due to COVID-19.

I have been heartbroken but the only thing I can appeal to others is to stay safe and wear your mask. I am blessed so far to have no immediate family member affected by this pandemic. It has been a tough year for most of us but I am pretty sure that this too shall pass.

Now let’s get into my summer sewing plans!!

Last month I selected 2 prints: a zebra chevron and an animal print and knew I wanted to make maxi looks for summer. Unfortunately, both challis prints are sold out but there are some amazing prints available here. To be quite honest, my black and white dress was a NO brainer as I knew I wanted to create a maxi dress using the bodice of V9253. I made this pattern several times hacking the bodice so it was a quick and easy sew. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to make another maxi dress or a 2 piece look that I could rock more ways than one. After losing my creative juice with what top to make, I decided to just stick with something easy-breezy, a cami to go with the simple maxi skirt with pockets I made a month ago.

This is indeed a 2 piece and the top was made using True Bias Ogden Cami, a quick 1 hour sew. I actually wanted an animal print cami so that I can rock it under a black suit when things return back to normal. I personally feel that animal print is so classic and is a trend that never goes out of style. As a lover of print, I pretty much have a touch of animal print in my closet from my prescription glasses frames, jewelry to shoes.

For the cami, I cut the size 10 with no modifications. I have made several Ogden camis (here, here, here and here) and love it, even more, when I make sets.

For the skirt, I drafted an easy maxi rectangular skirt using my waist measurement. The total width of the skirt is 2.5 times my waist measurement and of course, I use the elastic waist technique from my May blog post here. I even added some deep pockets too!

I am hoping that my creative juices hit before my birthday which is in 2 weeks and 3 days. Even though my birthday plans are canceled, I definitely plan to enjoy every bit of it. It looks like I will be celebrating via ZOOM as I do not want to put my son at risk. I also plan on making a few things and definitely continue my birthday tradition, a professional photoshoot. Be sure to head over to my BLOG and SUBSCRIBE as I plan to do a week-long of giveaways including fabric from my stash and a gift certificate from Fabric Mart.