I have become obsessed with the Dress Like a Crayon movement (can we call it a movement? trend? challenge? way of life?) which I believe was started by What Katie Sews. If you aren’t familiar with the #dresslikeacrayon hashtag I encourage you to have a quick scroll, it’s just so enjoyable! It seems to me that the idea is simple – wear a monochromatic outfit, simplify getting dressed and have fun! I have loved seeing the sewing community get on board with this concept, and I wanted IN! So today I bring you my first attempt at dressing like a crayon, you know… two years late.
I don’t think I’ve blogged about these Flint pants before, which is crazy because I wear them at least once a week. It took me a really long time to make these Flint pants, and no I don’t mean because I was sewing slowly, I mean because I was so crippled by my love for this fabric that I waited two years to cut into this fabric. You see I bought this fabric cover three years ago whilst visiting my sister in law Annelise in Melbourne. I spent a good couple of hours (yes I said hours haha) hanging out in The Fabric Store buying more fabric than could fit into my suitcase, when i found this organic linen. Anyone who loves organic fabrics knows that you don’t often find organic linen. I don’t know whether this is because linen uses less chemicals to begin with so the term is redundant, or whether there is less demand, i really don’t know – if you know the reason please let me know in the comments i’d love to learn it! But whatever the case here was a gorgeous roll of organic linen and i was in love.
At this stage my favourite Flint pants had started getting holes in the pocket bags and the fabric was fading very very weirdly. The pocket bags were my fault because I used some leftover poly lining i had in stash, and that really isn’t a good match for denim. The fabric fading in weird patches also didn’t stress me too much as if you recall, the entire roll only cost me $5. But still, I loved those pants. So when i saw this gorgeous quality linen in a similar shade I bought enough to make myself a pair of Flint pants and a bib from our free add on pattern.
Then I did that thing I do when I buy a gorgeous piece of fabric that I am emotionally attached to. I physically freeze, can’t cut it, and inevitably leave it to acclimatize to my house for a few years before i cut it (See: How to Sew with Liberty of London fabrics). Then when COVID hit and we found ourselves in lockdown here in Perth, I thought well this is stupid, I need to start finishing all these dream projects instead of sitting thinking about them, so I finally cut out these pants and sewed them up. Along with my raw silk open weave River top. The silly thing is I did this project in less than a day. Isn’t it amazing how we can procrastinate so long about something that doesn’t really take that long? And nothing terrible happened, they sewed up well and now I get to wear them all the time. I guess sometimes I just need to get out of my own head and tell my perfectionism to sit down!
As to the tee that makes the rest of this crayon outfit – it’s my favourite Jarrah tee, which has been going strong for a little over 2 years. I really need to make more of these, this little tee has got to be one of my most worn garments and just seems to go with everything. Plus I like that it’s a little different to your regular old tee. If you’d like to try making one yourself check out Holly’s tutorial for how to sew a Jarrah tee using the Jarrah sewing pattern.
Well my friends, that’s my first Dress Like a Crayon outfit! I really enjoyed it and I think monochromatic dressing is going to become a regular feature in my wardrobe. How about you, have you hopped on the #dresslikeacrayon bandwagon yet?
photography by Bronnie Joel
