I’ve always wanted to make a saharienne inspired dress out of the Carme blouse pattern and I woke on Saturday morning with an urge to sew it Now! So I drank my morning tea and headed to the sewing room and I got out for lunch with this Safari Carme Dress.
As you can see, it’s still missing some closure on the front placket, I’m planning to make some kind of lace-up closure with eyelets like the Yves Saint Laurent original saharienne. But I was missing a hammer so I’ll finish it later…I used a natural linen, it’s so comfortable for the summer… I think it would also look great in light cotton or chambray. The fabric is from the Fabrics-store, they have an amazing linen selection (they sent me this fabric to make a tutorial of the Carme blouse and I had just enough left for the dress).
Here you can see the loose shape gathered at the waist by the belt and the other details I changed on the original Carme blouse pattern: I shortened the sleeves, added a breast pocket, lengthened the placket, added belt loops and lengthened the length of the pattern. These are very easy changes. Let’s see them on a diagram in case you want to make a Carme dress:
In red are the original pattern pieces and in blue the new ones, in black the pieces and marks that you don’t need to change:
- You can keep the pleated yoke if you wish but I wanted a simpler look so I joined the yoke (4) and the front (1) together and drew the new bodice front. I lengthen it by about 30 cm on the side (careful, the hem is curved).
- I lengthened the back bodice by 30 cm as well (this measurement will depend on your height of course, I’m small so I don’t need to add a lot but you might want to add more or less length) and I made a more pronounced and longer curve at the back (I think the back is about 8 cm longer than the front).
- I lengthened the front placket (5), it’s about 40 cm now.
- You can use the same collar pieces (6).
- I shortened the sleeves (3) right on the “shorten or lengthen here” mark and raised the new square mark about 12 cm under the top of the sleeve head. I used the same sleeve tab pieces (7).
- I added 4 belt loops at waist level (2 on the front and 2 on the back) to wear a belt and give some shape to the dress. They are made of self fabric bias strips. These could also be place at hips level for a different look.
- I added a breast pocket with flap. I made a box pleat pocket for an utilitarian look.
- The only thing you would have to be careful about is the hip measurements: be sure to add enough room for your hips as the original pattern hits just above them. With following the lines and opening them just a little bit, my dress is very confortable and loose, but if you are pear shaped, that’s something I’d keep in mind when drawing the new pattern lines.
That’s it! Quite easy, no? I hope some of you will be tempted by this Safari Carme variation and if you have any question, feel free to contact me.
