Julia Skirt Hacked As A Dress Made with FS Ultramarine Midweight Linen. Photo Sophie Nawratil

As I’m writing this, I am sitting at the breakfast table in Croatia (again – lucky me, I know) enjoying a slice of bread with spicy Ajvar and cucumber. It’s 10:12 am and 27 C. It’s warm but not too hot, which feels perfect because I’m not sweating like hell but still don’t need to wear anything with sleeves. Also, we (my youngest sister, my son and I) forgot to bring a sunshade for the beach and searched the whole town to find one but couldn’t – so we’re happy the temperature isn’t too deadly. Forgetfulness runs in the family I guess…

Julia Skirt Hacked As A Dress Made with FS Ultramarine Midweight Linen. Photo Sophie Nawratil

But let’s talk about that big blue cloud of a dress.

As you may have noticed – I had a very intense Yves Klein Blue phase at the end of last year/beginning of this year. I wrote about it in one of my first articles and to be honest that love never really stopped. So here it is again – the only blue in my life.
It’s deep and bright at the same time and pops out at you without having a neon kind of loudness. There can never be too much of ultramarine for me – which very much feels like the motto of this dress, because it’s a lot – and I love it.
For the dress, I used the Julia skirt pattern. I don’t know if you know the Disney movie ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’, but when I was 5 years old I wanted nothing more than to be the female main character Esmeralda. So when I saw the pattern, my inner 5 year old Sophie knew I had to give it a try. But – knowing I don’t like skirts, I started this pattern with a completely different vision.

Julia Skirt Hacked As A Dress Made with FS Ultramarine Midweight Linen. Photo Sophie Nawratil

As I’m packing for two people when going on holiday, I try to pack as little and smart as possible – so I wanted to sew something that I could wear to the city and to the beach. Something practical that can also be easily upgraded. So I ended up sewing a dress.
I did everything as described in the pattern and only changed the elastic a bit. I sewed a tunnel for the elastic so I have some ruffles on top as well and installed some straps. And that’s it! Just add some nice shoes and a bag and you have the perfect airy dress for a hot summer night – or add some slippers and you have the dress for the beach you always wanted. You can even change your swimwear underneath without needing 5 arms. It’s a beach game changer! And it’s pretty! What more could you want?

Have a wonderful late-summer!

Bussi

Sophie

PS: All photos are taken analog by my wonderful and talented friend Sophie Nawratil