It’s Thrifty Thursday over at Amelia Lane Designs which means 30% off (and codes stack!) the featured fabric. This week’s feature is the Sawyer fabric. It’s a hacci (sweater knit) in a vintage-y looking blue with gray stars. I used two free patterns (hence the Thrifty in Thrifty Thursday) to make my husband and I matching outfits. Check out my blog post for that event here.

Otherwise, let’s talk about what “The Freedom of Summer” means.

Apparently my husband can smell it, I think that’s what that pose he’s doing is.

I’m writing today as part of the Freedom Of Summer Blog Tour by Rebecca Page Patterns. At the bottom you’ll find links to everyone else in this tour for more inspiration!

Thinking about the freedom of summer though reminds me of the opening scene from Nora Robert’s “One Summer”. More importantly, it reminds me of how I looked forward to summer so I could read for fun instead of school!

As I got older summer came to mean breaks between years of college, filled with early morning summer classes at the community college and late evenings at the county fair. Further down the line, now it means the end of the fiscal year and closing out the books at work. Sigh, adulting.

But it does mean more daylight and for me, that’s exciting. It means I somehow function on less sleep. I can stay up later and still rise and shine when it’s time.

That means more sewing time for me! It means getting home from work and still having some daylight to get stuff done! More time for kitty cuddles too!

More hours in the day though often mean more hours when I’m spending money! So any time I can find a way to spread my summer allowance out further, I’m down for that!

Toronto Tee

The Rebecca Page Toronto tee is free on the Rebecca Page patterns website.

It’s a basic short sleeve tee, so you know, a total wardrobe staple! It’s a relaxed fit, something most things in my wardrobe aren’t, so it’s a nice change. A little freedom for my waistline!

I decided to go ahead and lengthen into a dress since pants aren’t really my thing. This is a REALLY simple hack (if you even call it that).

Step 1: Assemble the pattern pages as you normally would, do any grading or lengthening for your height. I add 1″ above the waist for my height. You want to add the height where it belongs so that the waist hits you where it’s intended. In this case, the relax fit would mean it doesn’t matter, but it’s a good habit.

Step 2: Measure from your shoulder seam to where you’d want your dress to hit, add 1/2″ hem allowance.

Step 3: Add paper to the bottom of the pattern until the length from the shoulder to the hemline is your desired length including hem allowance. Do this for front and back. Make sure you get the side seams (opposite the fold) the same length so they’ll line up.

Since it’s a relaxed fit, you don’t really need to flair the skirt out, just straight down will be fine.

Optional Step 4: And since I can never leave well enough alone, I went ahead and gave my skirt a little high low. I left the back as-is. On the front bodice, I raised the center hem (the fold side) up a few inches and smoothed that down to keep the side seam equal to the back.

Step 5: Cut and Sew as normal !

In addition to the Sawyer Hacci for the dress, I used a little bit of the two tone black solid DBP from Amelia Lane Designs. I got it in a scrap pack and it’s SUPER soft. It has plenty of stretch and recovery so it makes for a good neckband over my big head 🙂 I have solids in just about every color thanks to the scrap packs at Amelia Lane Designs so I’m always able to coordinate my neckband.

DIBY ABB For Men

Keeping with the theme of free patterns, I decided to try out the Anything But Basic tee from Do It Better Yourself Club. This is a free pattern that comes in all sizes.

I didn’t do any mods on his tee, just graded out one size larger hips than chest to fit properly. I also used the Sawyer hacci and the two tone black solid neckband for him. I enjoy dressing us to match. Or maybe I just enjoy seeing how much I can get him to humor me with stuff like this!

He’s also wearing the 5oo4 Men’s Swim Trunks that I made without the inside liner so that they’re just easy summer shorts. I used the steel athletic brushed polyester so they’re very comfortable for doing working outside in hot summer temps.

Link disclosure:  This post may contain affiliate links. Clicking the link doesn’t change the product or price you’re shown, but I might get a small percentage towards materials for my next project.  If you found this post helpful and are planning to purchase the pattern anyway, I’d really love for you to use my link.

Rebecca Page Toronto Tee for Women

Do It Better Yourself Club – Anything But Basic Men’s Tee

5oo4 Men’s Swim Trunks

Check out who’s up next in the Freedom of Summer Blog Tour:

More Inspiration

Please visit all the stops on the Rebecca Page Sew Free for Summer Blog Tour for more great inspiration:

• Sunday May 26: Rebecca Page (intro)
• Monday May 27: The Sewing Unicorn, Stitched by Jennie
• Tuesday May 28: Jot Designs
• Wednesday May 29: bigflynotions
• Thursday 30: Liviality, Kitty Makes It
• Friday May 31: Seams Like Style, Patchwitch, Twinkle Toes and Company
• Saturday June 1: SequoiaLynn Sews, Sewista Fashionista
• Sunday June 2: Misty and Mim

Prizes

We will be giving away a pattern bundle of choice each day PLUS an overall grand prize of a $50 pattern credit. To stand a chance to win, all you have to do is comment on each blog, each day so stay tuned to the Rebecca Page Sewing group for updates from our bloggers!