Summer Dresses And Quilted Tote Bag For Average August

Hello everyone..
I have been away from this blog for a month. I was super busy during summer holidays but in the end I relaxed for ten days in Bangkok with my family. Enjoyed the city, spicy foods and celebrated two birthdays - my dear husband and my younger son :)

I managed to make two simple dresses, one quilted tote bag, pouches and two kimono tops for swimsuits cover before I left home. But for today I will show you the dresses and the tote, the kimonos will be posting in the later post.

Now, let me start from my first dress, I called Elastic Waist Dress. I used 2 yards of printed chiffon in grey and black from stash. I have love hate relation with chiffon, I hate it because it will make me sweat especially in hot days and I love it because it will never crumple. 

Pattern and modification:

This dress is my own modification from Built By Wendy Dirndl Dress size S. I made the neckline bigger and a little V-back.

I skip both front and back darts and added 2 cm in back bodice sides. 

Added 3 cm for both front and back skirt and sewn elastic at the waist.

The sewing process was quick, I sewn the bodice lining but I let the skirt without lining. Nothing special I can say about sewing this dress. It was easy, even the beginner can do it :) No zipper but elastic at the waist.

Here are the pictures of the dress on me, front-side-back views and the closer look of the dresses including the inner dress,

The second dress was super easy, I finished in two hours. This dress is my second dress from BurdaStyle Summer Dress
I used 2 yards of printed cotton voile in blue, black and yellow. I love the fabric, especially the print.

Pattern and modification:
I used BurdaStyle Summer Tank Top 05/2013 size 34/36
To make a dress, I just lengthen the pattern until my knee and reduced both sides 3" because the original pattern was too big, the armholes are almost reaching my waist :)

source from BurdaStyle

The sewing process was fun, quick and easy. I sew all pieces according to the instruction. I sew the shoulder strip first then sew the armholes.
After the armholes done, I folded the neckline and sew it in both front and back. I left the both sides of neckline open to insert the strip.
I sew both sides of the dress right sides together.
Insert the strip in the neckline and leave some centimetres for the shoulder, and knot the strip in another shoulder.
Hem the dress and done! :)
Here is the final dress on me and the closer look,

The last projects are quilted tote bag and pouches.
The bag size is 17" x 16.5" x 5" , no zipper but I used snap fastener. The inner bag has one big pocket with zipper in one side and two pockets without zipper in another.
The bag pattern is self-drafted. I did the work same as my previous bag, except the quilted block.
I never did a quilt before, so this is a good opportunity for me to try a quilt block. My first attempt in quilt was nine patch block, I found the easy tutorial from sewcanshe.com I love it and can not wait for the next project to start :)

Here are the pictures of my finished bag and pouches and the closer look of the inner bag with pockets. I wore these a lot during my holidays, especially to put all my swimming stuff.

The bigger pouch size is 11" x 8", no lining and finished with zipper and I sewn a holder in one side of the pouch.
The smaller pouch size is 7" x 6", also no lining and finished with zipper.

And here is my quilted in process, I used all the fabric scraps from stash :)

I think that's it for my today post, finally all things are settle after my holidays and more sewing to come :) Hope all my sewing fellow had a great summer holidays. I miss you all and can not wait to read your posts and see your projects.

Happy Sewing!

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