Monday, April 17

Love Notions Olympia/Hey June Union Mash Up


This fabric caused some weird battle inside of me. On one hand, I thought it was fun and bright and interesting. On the other hand, the print is enormous, its everywhere in the knit fabric sewing world, and sadly, most things I've seen made out of it and the other color ways are not my style and it kind made me think anything made out of it would be ugly. 

But then of course, Diana, at Raspberry Creek Fabrics, my favorite place ever, got it in stock and I kept adding it to my cart, and then taking it out again. Finally I decided it was such a good deal that it would be ok if I tried something with it and didn't love it. And then...it just lived in my cupboard for months. I couldn't decide what to make out of it. Since its the biggest print I've ever worked with, I wasn't sure whether I should make something small, like a t shirt, in order to not go overboard with the huge floral, or something big and just embrace the print. 

In the end I decided if I used a large scale print on a large pattern that it would feel more like it belonged there, instead really out of place. So maxi dress it was!
You've already read about my love for the Olympia dress from Love Notions, and if you know me at all you also know I love a good hack. So I decided to mash two patterns together for this dress, I used the maxi skirt from the Olympia, and the Union St Tee from Hey June for the top. I chose the crew neck and short sleeves, but there are tons other options. This mash up should work with any of your favorite t shirt patterns, and likely any maxi skirt, with a few alterations.

I added 6 inches to the maxi skirt, in 3 places, in 2 inch increments, to get it floor length on me. I'm 5'8" and am wearing flat sandals. For the Union, I sized down, and then took it in a bunch more, and obviously shortened it a lot. I also had to make the opening of the top of the skirt smaller to match the bottom of the bodice. I used clear elastic at the shoulders and the waist to help support the weight of this dress (its a fairly heavy double brushed poly). 

It turned out amazing! Plus its super comfy!Its not super practical now that were moving to Arizona, as brushed poly is not known for its breathability... But hey - at least its pretty!
What are your favorite pattern mash ups? Are you a hacker, or do you prefer a pattern for everything? I'm torn - I love patterns, but I am also known for trying a hack on pretty much every pattern I own...

If you try a mash up like this tag me on Instragram so I can see it! 
@ammonlane


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1 comment:

Go ahead, you know you want to...