There is this contest where you can win a (nice and expensive Singer) sewing machine or a (nice and expensive Singer) dress form. All you have to do is sew a “swimsuit cover-up”, and post a picture on the flickr group, and you’ve entered. So I decided to make a summer dress that can double as cover-up and enter the contest. The result:

I used an Ikea remnant of Bomull (100% cotton, unbleached). Costed me 2,30€ for approximately 2,25m (normal price: 1,99€/m). A spool of elastic thread (3€), and a spool of matching thread (2€).

Yesterday I traced the pattern, loosely based on the Mendocino Summerdress free pattern, which I had to grade to my size (I am, sadly, not an L). Then I decided I didn’t like in-seam pockets, and I had fallen in love with pleated patch pockets. And finally today I cut all the pieces and got to learn how my sewing machine works (new one, cause otherwise I had to borrow one, and it wasn’t that expensive). And a few hours later, I had the dress above!

It’s a simple zippered flat bottom trapezoid bag. Bottom is wider than top and the sides are straight. It has two long wide sturdy straps so you can hung it over your shoulder to carry all the stuff. It’s fully lined, and there is a (giant) hole on the lining to insert a cardboard base to make it stiffer. It also has two small pockets inside, for tissues and other small things that I don’t want to have floating around.

What did I use? One 45cm zipper, 75cm each of lining fabric (Ikea something or other, from the 2005 collection²), and outside fabric (Ikea Betina, from the 2005 collection as well³), tens of meters of black sewing thread⁴, one cardboard base from a bag⁵ that I broke, and a sewing machine with both normal and zipper⁶ feet.

The bag is some 44cm wide, 24cm deep, and 34 cm tall, and the handles are about 60cm long and 4.5cm wide (made of four layers of fabric, these feel sturdy and nice).

This is an Ikea Fira. I bought my first one some years ago, and back then, they came assembled. Now they come in flat packaging, and I sometimes wish they still had those nifty plastic nail holders, makes nailing in the right spot a lot easier. Other than that, the chest needed a sanding before the stenciling and two layers of varnish (with sanding in between layers). And it’s a lot smoother and a lot better now. It’s in the bedroom hiding odds and ends, jewelry, hairbands, makeup and other stuff.

I want a second one for my crafting items, but I’m thinking about a different technique.. Or maybe I’ll use some black and red lacquer to give it an asiatic look, with a nice golden design…. ah, the ideas keep flowing!

Hard to take pics of, but. Tuesday is inauguration of the shower! (The silicon needs to dry perfectly before, and won’t be until monday night, so, tuesday!)

The corner shelves are from Ikea. Nice, functional, cheap. Yay!

This afternoon I made the two small ones for the set. She can use them for pricetags, or maybe for stamping on small clothing items, who knows. Sneak peek:

See the stamping these two make in the gallery!

I have a couple of stamp designs in mind to put them up for sale. Stay tuned.

On other news, I started a small Ikea-hack, but it’s not done yet, so I can’t share pics. Still have to varnish and assemble, that’s where I am! But you’ll get to see pics soon.