Dressing like a crayon: Stellan tee dress hack and Salut Cheri beret

Wow, that title is a bit of a mouthful…

A couple of my recent makes combined to make the perfect autumnal Dress Like a Crayon outfit:

The dress is a hack of the French Navy Stellan tee, a free pattern for a loose fitting T shirt. To turn it into a dress I literally just extended it downwards, parallel to the grainline. Thats it! Easiest hack ever.

At first I wasn’t crazy about the fit; I thought it was too tight over the hips, but after wearing it a few times and getting used to it I’ve changed my mind. I think I’m just used to wearing things that are baggy over the hips.

I used the cotton jersey I bought at Stoff and Stil in Copenhagen. I *love* this fabric; the amazing colour and the unusual print are so beautiful. It’s the perfect match for a simple project like this one, because the fabric can be the main focus. Having worn this dress and washed it many times, I can safely attest to the fabric’s colourfastness, as it hasn’t faded at all.

Overall I thought the pattern was great. However, I wasn’t crazy about the tiny 5mm seam allowance- on wovens it could work, but jersey has a tendency to roll at the edges, which makes everything a bit fiddly. Did I dislike the small seam allowance? Yes. Will I be bothered to change it in the future? Ahahaha no. In fact, I’ve already sewn up a T-shirt with the pattern since making this dress, tiny seam allowances and all. Adding seam allowances is my pet hate, so I try to avoid it whenever possible.

I absolutely love this dress; it’s comfy and easy to wear, and has been on constant rotation in my wardrobe lately.

Now, for the next part of my Dress Like a Crayon outfit: the beret!

You may remember that I made a Salut Chéri beret back in the summer, and I’ve made one since, so this is my third so far. I haven’t gotten much wear out of the first two, mainly because I couldn’t help looking like I had a plate balanced on my head. I had an epiphany (a slight exaggeration) when I realised they were too big for me. With this one I blocked it on a smaller plate, and voilá, I can now wear berets and look cool while doing it!

As for those two disappointing berets, I’m going to try re-blocking them on a smaller plate, because I really would like to wear them.

Here’s one of the original berets and my new one side by side:

My favourite thing about this beret is the yarn: I used Knitting For Olive’s Heavy Merino, a worsted weight yarn, held together with their Silky Mohair. I deliberately used a slightly different colour of each yarn, which gives the hat an iridescent quality. The mohair also gives it a delicate halo that mimics the felted look of shop-bought berets.

Like the fabric, these yarns were also bought in Copenhagen, so this outfit is entirely Danish!

Because I held two yarns together, the overall yarn thickness must have been greater than on the other berets I’ve made; it definitely feels like a sturdier fabric, and seems to hold its shape better.

Well, that’s it for this post! I’ve been wearing both the dress and the beret non-stop, and will be making many more of each in the future.