Penny at the seaside < with my hands

The local fabric shop had lovely new floral viscose fabrics and I couldn’t resist this tropical fabric. I had just the perfect pattern for it on my Sensible Sewing Challenge list: The Sew Over It Penny Dress. This is now my favourite dress pattern having made two dresses and the blouse with it. (Btw. They just published this former pdf-only pattern as a printed pattern, so check it out if you hate cutting and pasting pdf-patterns together!)

However, I do recommend not snipping the fabric underneath your arms that the instructions say. You can very easily sew the side seams and then hem the sleeves or do what I did this time: Cut two strips of bias binding out of your dress fabric and use that to bind the sleeves. I am speaking from experience. One day I was wearing my Penny blouse hack lying on my bed and I happened to lift my arms to put them behind my head. I heard a terrible ripping sound and then saw that my blouse had ripped about an inch, right through the snip.

In the middle of this July heat wave, this dress has become my favourite outfit. I can put my bikini on and slip into this dress and then head for the beach. The elastic waist makes it very easy to take off without any need for dressing rooms.

I did not have much time so I did not check the length of the hem properly. I think this dress would look more flattering if it were two inches shorter since now the hem ends up at the widest part of my calf making my legs look thicker. Of course, wearing heels would also help but who has time for heels during the summer? In fact, I have become so comfortable walking barefoot that I forgot my shoes at my parents’ summer cottage today. Luckily my mum spotted the sneakers that I left behind before we were too far away to turn back!