#OOTD: sew & style! + give-away

Angela Lan’s debut book, #OOTD (Outfit of the Day) Sew & Style was send to me to test and review! An opportunity that I definitely didn’t want to turn down. The book is full of basic patterns that you can use to learn how to sew or in my case: to hack!

I wanted to sew myself some basic tank tops (in woven fabrics) so from the moment I spotted this basic pattern in the book I wanted to give it a try! A basic pattern asks for a beautiful fabric. That’s my opinion anyway… So I selected one of my favourite Nani Iro fabrics for this project. A risk, because I didn’t want to sew a muslin.

After a first try, I noticed that the arm pits were too high for me. The rest was perfect! So I ended up cutting away 1cm for the top. I love my new top a lot. Especially the curved hem. It makes a basic tank to a tad more special. Just how I like it!

So part two was the hack: after lowering the arm pit with another centimeter and taking away a bit of fabric at the front armhole, it was perfect.

I cut the top pattern horizontally in two (there’s a line on the pattern to help you) and added 37cm to end up with a dress with the same length as the Louisa.

I adjusted the side seams to have a ‘balloon’ effect. This way I ended up with a super comfy dress. A ‘bag‘ as Bjorn defines it.

So after holding the side seams a bit backwards (you know how it goes when you stand in front of the mirror), I decided to add some buttons and buttons loops. This way I can wear the dress in two ways. The baggy way or the more refined way. PS/ please don’t play attention to the crease on the picture above. I just wanted to show the beautiful bias binding… ;)

The fabric I used is a super comfy linnen / cotton mix from Robert Kaufman. Finished with some Liberty bias binding. (This is the only good way in my opinion to finish the hem.) A perfect match! Both from Julija’s shop in Antwerp.

At the bottom I kept the curved hem, but you don’t see this on the pictures…

Here you can see an interview with the author. She’s only 14 years old! I’m impressed. On her blog you can find more details on the book. One I can recommend for beginners or seamstresses in need of a good basic patterns sewing book.  And guess what: I can give-away a digital copy of the book to one of my readers! You can participate HERE till Sunday 9pm (CET + 1 timezone).

I would like to thank C&T publishing for the blogtour invitation! It’s been a great sewing adventure.