Crafty Bloggers Club - Kim's Ogden Cami

Hi crafty sewists! My name is Kim. I am Freya’s mother and naturally a huge fan of the fabulous Crafty Sew & So. I learned to sew in secondary school at a time when fashionable clothes were way beyond my budget (I earned £1 for a whole Saturday’s work stacking shelves at the local Spar!) and as well as making lots of garments for my O’ Level in “Needlework”, I made myself the dress I wore to my 18th birthday party. I didn’t take a sewing machine with me when I left home, though, and I didn’t sew again until Freya came along 12 years later! As she and her little sister grew out of their clothes so quickly, and I got busier and busier – and affordable fashion became available – I stopped sewing garments for another 10 years or so, until my lovely daughter inspired me to get creative with fabrics again – and now I am hooked!

As you can imagine, Freya and Sarah have been very busy adapting their working practises to the new situation, and looking after their little ones as well – so I decided to make something for Freya as a treat. With the weather being so very warm, and shorts being the thing to wear, I decided to make her an Ogden Cami – a quick and very wearable make – and I chose to make it out of the gorgeous Viscose Lawn called “Valentine’s Day”.

I was delighted by the feel of the fabric. It is really soft and lightweight, yet it has a strength from being 100% viscose (sometimes called Rayon). It was actually quite easy to work with too! I expected it to be quite slippery, but using a few more pins made it stay in place.

I only ordered 1 metre of the fabric, and I was making a large size and I was adding a full inch to the length, so I had to be very careful as I laid out the pattern pieces. I used a gatefold layout, and I had to cut one of the facing pieces perpendicular to the selvedge. It was fine as my pattern was multi directional (and it was only a facing).

Even though it was an easy make, I decided to watch a sew-along on Youtube before following the written instructions, because I am a very visual learner (which is why I love going to workshops!) I stay stitched all the curved edges, and after I had sewn the straight edges on the sides and shoulder seams I overlocked the raw edges together. I found the pattern very straight forward to make – apart from attaching the spaghetti straps! It was easy to get them twisted (the sewist on the Youtube sew-along video did it too!)

As a final delicate touch I decided to hand sew the hem. Of course this took longer than sewing on the machine, but it was much more subtle than a row of machine stitching – and I made it for my daughter as a gift, so I wanted to put my love into it! I think it looks gorgeous on her – but I must admit I am biased!!