If you didn’t know about my love affair with linen, you must be new here. Let me introduce you: Linen, meet reader. Reader… meet the fabric love of my life… linen. *sigh* I’m not sure exactly when linen and I started our relationship. If I remember right, I even avoided it for a really long time because of it’s reputation. GASP! WRINKLES! But once I started sewing and learning not only about the benefits of natural fibers, but also how different fabrics feel and wash and move? I basically wanted everything made from linen from now until the rest of time and learned to love and embrace the wrinkles. It’s true that not all linen is created equal, however. So if I had to narrow it down to a favorite, it would be Linen Gauze or European Washed Linen. It’s on the more expensive side for fabric, but it’s worth every penny. (As long as you don’t mess up!)

Today was another warm day, and I decided to try and kill a big chunk of time with another long walk to the post office. This time in something with a bit more movement. For me, wearing linen holds a sort of romanticism. It’s like coffee. The vision I see in my head holding a ceramic mug of coffee out on my back patio with birds chirping and sunlight hitting the steam from my cup just right, is usually much better than the real thing. But every day I drink coffee with that vision in mind. Sometimes I even go to sleep excited for my first cup in the morning. And my visions of a linen dress give me such similar feelings. I always picture my dress swaying in the wind and feeling the breezes float onto my body through the woven fabric, with the hem brushing gently against my legs. I can instantly feel grass or sand between my toes, maybe hear a wind chime if I’m being a little extra — and it transports me into a different state of mind.

So yeah, I guess you could say I like linen.

outfit notes

This is another homemade dress, with a very similar silhouette to the striped one you saw me wear just a few days ago. It’s slightly more oversized and feels less structured because of the gauze fabric, so it’s really easy to wear. I guess it’s basically a muumuu, and I have no problem with that at all. You can see my tutorial for the striped dress if you want to get an idea how I made this one. As I mentioned, it was pretty warm again today. So for our walk, I had to put on some slip shorts underneath the dress to avoid sweating/chaffing. These are my favorite slip shorts by a mile. I tested 4 different styles last summer, and ended up ordering 3 of these (size L) as my keepers. This year, I might like to get the 4″ length too. I don’t generally like to wear my long johns around the house because they do add a bit of warmth, but as a protective barrier for something like a long walk, or day where you’re out and about, they are just perfect.

• 

• 

• 

Now tell me, what’s your favorite fabric?

loves,
jaana