Out Back And Beyond

For those of you who wondered if I had actually fallen off the face of the earth, you will be pleased to know that actually, I had only been out in the wilderness for a little while both literally and figuratively.  I have been camping in the breathtakingly beautiful Abel Tasman National Park where there is limited internet access and unlimited real life distractions.  Our holiday of choice is 6 hours drive from home but very much another world.  Our days were spent on the beach, walking the outstandingly beautiful Abel Tasman track, cruising the many unspoilt bays on a launch, and generally being a tourist in our own country.  Sadly it all ends tomorrow when I must return to work.  Golden Bay, I will be back!

This dress was made with this holiday in mind.  The New Zealand sun is savage and I knew we would be spending a lot of time in the sun over our two week camping break.  It did indeed come in handy especially at the end of our long day walking the track.  A swim was a must to soak our wary muscles while we waited for our boat to return to take us back to our camping spot. Towels were however, not an option in our back pack due to bulk, so this dress proved perfect to throw over wet swimwear.

I had a piece of op shop aqua coloured muslin that I had ear marked for a beach dress.  I was, however, procrastinating due to a lack of inspiration.  I knew I wanted something soft and flowy but what I didn't know was the piece I had was narrow and short and certainly not large enough for anything dramatic.

Because of the limitation imposed on me because of the fabric size, I settled on my favourite tee pattern from 2011, New Look 6648.  I cut a v-neck version and added a facing which I attached to the outside.  I lengthened the top to mini dress length.  I then added an elastic casing to the inside at waist level before threading through a piece of 1cm elastic.

I felt like the dress needed something else though and after briefly considering beading and sequins for beach bling, I experimented with decorative machine embroidery using silver metalic thread.  I am pretty happy with how this turned out.  It is crush proof (well reasonably, it has been rescued from the washing basket for this photo), practical, cool and relatively stylish....win!