Old Sarong to Simple Summer Dress

Before we left for our trip last week, I was planning to make matching summer dresses for my daughter and my niece. I looked around my stash to find fabric that looks 'summery' and is big enough for 2 dresses and I found this:

It's an old sarong I got from a store in White Beach, Puerto Galera several years ago. If you're wondering what a 'sarong' is, it's a length of fabric that is used as a beach cover up. I Googled some images and found this:

These are actually the most common designs and you can buy one from most beaches here for around P100 (approx $2.50). The sarong I'm using above... I remember that it was on sale (yeah, they have sales on beaches too). It was like buy 3 for only P200 (approx $5) at the time. The design choices were limited and that red one was the nicest.

Anyway... for my summer dresses, I wanted to incorporate the dolphins to the tassels. I one of Andrea's dresses as my pattern. I laid it on top of the sarong, making sure that the designs I wanted are inside the lines of the dress. I traced it out and cut the front and the back pieces. For my niece, she's a year older than Andrea, I just made the front and back pieces a little bigger than Andrea's size.

I didn't have to hem the edge of the skirt because I wanted to keep the tassels. So first I sewed the sides. And then I hemmed the arm holes and the neckline. And the dress was done.

She was playing and did not appreciate being pulled away from her toys for a few minutes so I could take this photo.

Very easy to do! Since I wanted to incorporate the sarong design from the dolphin down to the tassel... the dress ended up a little longer than I wanted but Andrea didn't seem to mind.

When we went to the water park, Andrea spent most of the time taking a nap or wading in the pool. My niece did too. So they never got to wear it, therefore no picture of them with their matching dresses. Tsk tsk. Maybe next time.

I am linking up to the following link parties:

We Did It Wednesday at Sew Much Ado | Sew Cute Tuesday at Creative Itch | Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Designs | Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims | Make It, Wear It at The Train to Crazy | Wicked Awesome Wednesday at Handy Man, Crafty Woman | Wednesday Link Party at Tea Rose Home | Will See It Wednesday at Fabric Bows and More | Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple | Creative Juice Thursday at Momnivore's Dilemma | Get Your Brag on at Gluesticks | Thrifty Thursday Blog Hop at Saved By Love Creations | Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage | Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts | Thrilling Thursday at Paisley Passions | A Crafty Soiree at Katie's Nesting Spot | A Glimpse Inside at Catch a Glimpse | Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge |