the “last days of summer shirt”

While the “death grip on summer sundress” was a desperate attempt to squeeze as much out of summer as possible, this shirt is more of an acceptance that summer is coming to a close and autumn is well on its way. In the morning it can be worn to work with a light jacket or wrap when there’s a chill in the air and it smells like there’s a hint of front on the grass. In the afternoon it can be worn as a strapless shirt to get just a little more September sun on your shoulders before it disappears for the winter.

This was my second shirring project. As you can see, I learned from the last one and use a single elastic thread instead of starting and stopping at every row.

This was a 4 way stretch material which I thought might not work, but it has a beautiful drape and it’s super soft and comfy!

I like to just cut big squares, so I usually just use the entire width. The top is one 15 inch piece, the bottom is 20 inch pieces, and around the very top just folds to the inside to hide all the raw edges.

the “death-grip on summer sundress”

I don’t know what summer looks like where you are, but we’ve had the best summer here that we’ve seen in SEVERAL years. While it’s entirely possible to get snow any month of the year here, “summer” is usually a term reserved exclusively for July and August. Out of those 60 days, there’s usually a thunderstorm every afternoon/evening, and we get less than a week of +30C (86F). The last few years it’s been hard to find nice weather in the summer, but this year Mother Nature seems to be coming out of her funk and I’ve taken full advantage by making a sundress.

This is my first time shirring a top and I just LOVED it! My husband just kept saying over and over, “it fits you so well!”

It’s definitely a “maxi dress”, it pretty much goes to the ground. I hemmed absolutely NOTHING on it, and the bottom is rolling up slightly to cover the raw edge anyways. It’s a light knit, it feels like a t-shirt, with tiny little hot pink stars. I like just cutting giant squares, so each piece uses the entire width of the fabric. The top is a 12 inch piece, the bottom is 2 3 foot pieces, and the straps are many many 1-1/2 inch pieces.

For each strap I used 6 strips. First I took 2 strips, looped them around a table leg, and started twisting. After doing that with three pairs, I braided them together and tied a knot at the end. After it was all secure, I cut the other ends off of the table leg and knotted them. I sewed both ends to the dress and then after it was secure, chopped off the knot on the back (who wants a knot in their back?).

While I was attaching the second strap, I looped it around the first strap. Not only does it make it pretty and more interesting than boring old straps, it keeps them from falling down! (I know, genius huh?)