Esther’s Simplicity 1108

I’ve been thinking about the gaps in my wardrobe and thinking about plans to fill them. I’m the type of person that plans to plan to plan haha.

I always find it interesting how I can live years without a particular garment but at a random moment, I have an epiphany that I need it and I start missing that piece until I get it or make it. 

As I was planning my trip last month, it became apparent to me that the robes I have are only useful during the Autumn and Winter months. I just noticed that I don’t have a robe I can lounge in when it’s very warm outside. I put that thought in my mental notes to make actual notes that will become plans that may or may not be realised. Planning your sewing and sewing are two completely different but utterly fulfilling hobbies. 

Anyway, when I received this month’s fabric, I was lost as to what to make. In my mind, I had to make a one piece. I felt like this fabric needed to shine on its own. I just couldn’t decide what to make. I thought about making a shift dress, something cute that would work for the summer. Well the summer I am hoping will come in September because June and July have been disappointing as far as the weather is concerned. 

I continued to think and thought a kaftan could be a nice idea, I wasn’t sure I’d find a pattern to work with but there are YouTube videos showing how to create one from scratch. As I played around with that idea, the mental note of my robe came back to me. It was like a light bulb moment, I just had to make it. 

Picking a pattern had some challenges, I really wanted a garment that functioned as two garments. I wanted this piece to function as an overall that can be worn over clothes like jeans and a tee. I also wanted a garment that would function as a dressing robe that I could wear at home as a cover up. I think these two desires were kind of conflicting. 

I found that dressing robes had more of a cover up, some of the patterns I found had a shawl collar to really give that cover up. Then an overall/ jacket style piece was more open as it was supposed to be a topper garment so it had less coverage to give room for your garments to show. I decided to go for an overall garment instead and leave the robe for a future garment. 

The pattern I chose was the Simplicity 1108. The pattern had a few options to choose from. I decided to go for the straight, floor length overall. This was a lovely sewing experience. First, the garment was very well behaved, it pressed so nicely, cutting and sewing it was very easy. The pattern only had 3 pieces – front, back and sleeves. The pattern has you cut the back in two pieces but I got rid of the seam allowance and cut the back on the fold. As instructed by the pattern, I used bias binding to finish the center front and neckline. 

I love the garment I came up with, at 5″6, this overall is the perfect length for me. If you’re shorter than me, you’d need to shorten it.