A Patchwork Ogden Cami Hack
Today I’m going to be chatting about a dress pattern that I have seen constantly on the insta feed, across blogs and featured in so many articles. The Ogden Cami from True Bias. I know I’m a late bloomer. I have a habit of taking forever to make the patterns that are loved and made often by the sewing community. It’s very…dare I say…hipster of me. I tend to gravitate towards things that no one else likes. Who knows why? Anyway, this is not about my mental state of mind, it’s about this magical dress I finally got to make that I had been wanting to make for like forever!
Last year there was a really cute collaboration between A La Reunion and Madewell. The dresses were made from scraps and in quite a simple silhouette. I’m all for simple styles and using scraps. Firstly, I’m a mum of two little rugrats so I need things to have utility and secondly, I have a scrap graveyard in my sewing room. With this in mind, I began sketching out what I wanted my version to look like. That’s where the Ogden Cami came into effect. I started looking through the hashtag and there were so many pretty iterations yet none of which felt like me. So I started looking at the hacked version. I then came across an article that listed all the potential hacks people had made with the Ogden pattern. There were tiered skirt options, wider straps, changes to the neckline and many more. So, doing what I do best, I thought ‘why not combine a few?’ That’s exactly what I did.
My Ogden Cami became an Ogden dress. I changed my neckline to a square neckline and doubled the strap's thickness. I then added a tiered skirt to the cami portion using the tiered pattern pieces from McCall’s 7948. But I wasn’t done. I was able to bring my vision into the real world thanks to Style Maker Fabrics. They were launching their spring collection and asked if I’d like to come on board to review their new linens. It was the perfect storm. I chose from their collection and put all the linens I was loving together. I had never done this before while sewing, I worked on fabric placement as I went. It was nerve-wrecking since I just assumed I had enough fabric. Luckily I did and it turned out better than I could have ever hoped!
I’m in love with this dress and it’s been worn quite a few times already and I cannot wait to wear it even more come Summer. Although I drew inspiration from the collaboration from Madewell and A La Reunion, I have to say, I think I did it better. Shhh…don’t tell them!
