Let's go way back to a time when Portland was still pretty new to me. I am pretty sure I had a friend visiting, and after exploring around on Mississippi Ave and heading back towards home, we got off the bus at the wrong stop. Instead of walking to the right transfer point or waiting for the next bus, we found a darling vintage shop around the corner.
I don't remember much else about this excursion and I haven't been back to the shop since! But I fell in love with some beautiful fabric there and even though I was trying not to spend money, I had to have it. I did not have a sewing machine or really any plans to get one but I just could not let that fabric sit in that store another minute longer. I thought to myself, "I'll make something out of it some day!"
Well, a little bit of time went by (at least a year or two) and I did get a sewing machine. I took an intro sewing class with a couple of gals to revive the skills I learned from my great aunt back in high school, did a few little projects here and there, and all the while kept thinking about the perfect silky robe I was going to make with that great fabric that I had folded up in a bin somewhere.
I kept accumulating fabric from various projects, scraps and bits that seemed usable for other small projects and every time I dug into my fabric bin to start something new or look for something I would see this bright orange peeking out at me from the bottom of the bin and I would think, "Darnit, I have to make that robe." I was so nervous that I would do something wrong, and once I cut into it, that was it, no more pretty vintage fabric and dreams of perfect robes. I didn't have enough fabric to cover any errors! It was just enough and no more.
Well last week I finally conquered my fears and cut it up. I made a robe that is just exactly what I was picturing. It's definitely not perfect, I absolutely stitched the bias tape on wrong, and this fabric gave me a lot more trouble than I expected because it was so slippery. It was very hard to cut straight lines with the fabric slipping all over the place. But I love the way it turned out and am so glad I finally did it and got that fabric out of the bin and into the closet!
Searching for easy robe patterns I found this blog post that did not use an actual pattern but more of a general guide with room for making it your own. I used the cutting guide there as my starting point which was basically folding the fabric in half, cutting out a neck hole, cutting down the front, and cutting out notches from the sides for the kimono-like sleeves, using that cutaway fabric to make the robe ties. I wanted as few cuts as possible to maximize the fabric that I had and this seemed like the simplest way. I had the smart idea to sew the belt to the back of the robe, so it would never get lost. In the end, since this is not a fitted garment, all these little imperfections are hardly noticeable. My only real regret is not adding in a pocket on one of the side seams!
I just can't get over how pretty the fabric is!
I am getting a brand new phone with a great camera later today, so I will try to post a lot more photos of all kinds of stuff in the days to come, so add me on Instagram!
Also, if you haven't already checked out She's a Giant on Etsy, you should! I have a discount code set up for 20% off if you enter code FBfriends20 at checkout. Custom quilts make wonderful Christmas presents!
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!
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