The cult worthy Ogden cami!
The Ogden Cami pattern by True Bias is known and loved by many (for good reason!) in the sewing community.
These cami’s can be whipped up in one night once the kids are snoozing in their beds. They are super easy to throw on with so many things and they feel more elevated than the stretchy tank tops I used to live in!
I’ve made three that you can see below, and let me tell you, they are on high rotation!
The HACK!
I wanted to play more with pattern hacking this year and I started off with my Sailor pants hacked from the Parasol trousers by Ensemble patterns.
I played with some colour blocking in my second Ogden cami, and made wide bra-friendly straps on my third.
After seeing so many Ogden desses pop up on my Instagram feed I knew it would make the perfect summer dress. Easy to throw on and roomy to fit in those long lunches and late afternoon icy cold beers! We have to beat the Tokyo humidty somehow…
SO first thing I did was to crop the cami. I held the pattern piece upagainst my body and guesstimated where I’d like the crop to sit. I marked it on the pattern as well as seam allowance.
I knew I wanted a high low hem so I drafted this onto the pattern free hand as well.
I then held it against my back and with just a little bit of contortion I decided it was sitting in about the right spot!
I then cut out my pattern pieces and constructed the cami as per the instructions just skipping the hem.
The size of the skirt pieces was mainly dictated by the amount of fabric I had! I cut two even rectangles and gathered them to fit the bottom of the cami. Attached, hemmed and top stitched it to the cami to finish!
The fabric!
This dress was a stash buster.
I bought this gorgeous ‘Mori no Ie’ (House in the Forest) print by H/A/R/V/E/S/T TEXTILE/DESIGN not long after we arrived in Japan.
The designer of H/A/R/V/E/S/T, Midori Sanda, loves the outdoors and the concept behind her design is ‘coloring everyday with a harvest from nature’!
I love the watercolours in this print and it’s been sitting in my stash waiting for the perfect partner.
As stash-shopped for this Ogden hack I realised it paired perfectly with this textured cotton linen blend I picked up on a trip to Singapore. When I bought the linen I had no real plan for it, vaguely picturing a boxy summer top. So I used every last centimeter to make the skirt!
The result
The pics below, and the Kylie and the Machine label sum it up perfectly. I love this dress!
I love the ease of it and the lovely soft pastels as a change of pace from my usual bright colour palette! I love having options, most days I feel bright, but sometimes I feel pastel-y!
I’m keen to do this again in a fabric with some more drape and maybe a two tiered skirt. Have you hacked an Ogden cami? Let me know what you did in the comments below.
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