In this episode, we take you behind the scenes of our Bikini cover up photoshoot on location in Corfu, Greece. Originally, we were going to create a small lifestyle photoshoot simply using the gorgeous location and an iPhone. However, we were very lucky to meet a lovely girl called Anastasia, whilst drinking one night in Corfu town. She mentioned that she was a photographer and would love to help us with the photoshoot. She also mentioned that she had a team of friends who could all contribute to the photoshoot with hair, makeup, styling, art direction and some videography work. We leapt at the chance to collaborate and create some high-end fashion photography to really show off the bikini cover-ups.

In this episode, we look at the next garment in our range of bikini cover-up sewing patterns. This time we focus on the Long Coat which is essentially a skinny kimono with a chevron hem, waist tie, long sleeves and made from a gorgeous Japanese Ikat cotton.

To start, we take Francesca’s measurements, enter them into PatternLab to draft her made to measure basic sewing blocks. Once the Lab has drafted the basic blocks, we then transfer them to Adobe Illustrator and pattern cut the basic blocks into the finished kimono bikini cover-up sewing pattern. The pattern making process only takes about half an hour, since the pattern is quite simple. Once we have our finished pattern, we print it in full scale using our PDF print template. The print template separates the bikini cover-up sewing pattern up into individual A4 pages which can then be printed and stuck together to create the finished full-scale paper pattern. Once printed, we then construct the garment, hang it on a mannequin and assess the design. We don’t have much time until the holiday, so this time we go straight to finished fabric without first constructing a toile. Either way, the finished result is fantastic and a great addition to Francesca’s holiday wardrobe!

In this tutorial we do not show the pattern making process, instead we give you an overview of the finished bikini cover-up sewing pattern. If you would like to know how we drafted this pattern from Francesca’s made to measure blocks, then navigate to the bottom of this blog post. There you will find the pattern making tutorial in full. 

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The Long Coat Bikini Cover-Up Sewing Pattern – Pattern Making Tutorial

Want to learn how we drafted Francesca’s made to measure Long Coat bikini cover-up sewing pattern using Adobe Illustrator? Great, watch the below tutorial to see how. We show you in detail how we transformed Francesca’s made to measure basic sewing patterns or basic blocks into this gorgeous skinny kimono style, using a few basic additional measurements and Adobe Illustrator as a pattern making platform.

Learn Digital Pattern Making in Adobe Illustrator

Love the concept of pattern making in Adobe Illustrator CC? Great, why not take a look at our courses. We show you exactly how to use the platform, the various tools you’ll need and where to find them.  It’s completely FREE so why not have go?

We’ve got some fantastic news! We’ve finally got the gorgeous Lily print fabric back from Fashion Formula! We sent off the print about two days ago and it’s just come back, which means we can now start making Francesca’s Indigo Robe. Not only that, but we’ve finally booked a holiday! We wouldn’t normally mention it but to celebrate we’ve decided to design and make a series of gorgeous bikini cover-ups for Francesca, before we leave at –the end of the month.

Francesca’s Indigo Robe – Lily Print Fabric has Arrived!

Earlier in the week we contacted Fashion Formula and asked them to print 3 metres of our custom designed Lily print so we could start construction on Francesca’s Indigo robe. Two days later we received our print and it looks gorgeous! We opted for a high sheen satin, picked from their extensive collection of fashion fabrics. All in all it cost around £57 for the print so roughly £20 p/metre. There is one slight issue which was completely our fault- he scale of the print is slightly smaller than Francesca requested. However, it still looks fab. As we’re running the Edinburgh marathon over the weekend, I have asked a Tosca, an excellent machinsit and samplist to make the dress up in our absence so it’s ready in time for our holiday on the 29th! So more images of the finished garment are still to come. In the meantime, here is a close up of the print and that high sheen satin from Fashion Formula!

Bikini Cover-Ups for Corfu!

Ok, so let’s crack on, there is soo much to get through! Since we’ll be going away on holiday in just under a week, it seemed important to get the ball rolling with our collection of Bikini cover-ups. We printed a few fashion templates, courtesy of Prêt-à-Template and put pencil to paper. Once the preliminary sketches were created, we imported them into Adobe Illustrator and created some precision digital illustrations. We then added colour and fabric scans to bring them to life. We chose a selection of Japanese Ikat cotton from The Cloth House, located on Berwick Street London- check out their website, they have a wealth of gorgeous fabrics to choose from. Here’s a close up of the fabrics we sourced.

Japanese Ikat cotton is a great material to work with. It drapes well and is effortless to sew. The most fascinating thing about Ikat cotton is the patterning. The individual fibers are dyed before the weaving process begins. This creates a striated pattern effect that is impossible to achieve with print. You can read more about it on Wiki here.