Beach Wear

I didn't tax myself very hard to take pictures For the Record while I was at the beach. 
But as I combed through the photos, I came across these:

 

Ben's hat and shirt:  they worked great!  Easy to use, great coverage.  No sunburn.

Genevieve is walking to the beach with Granny wearing a pair of beach pants I made her last summer.  I used the directions in Amanda Soule's book.  They are a wonderfully breezy pair of pants, easy on and off (important for sandy and potentially sunburned legs!).  And topstitched in red.

And here is a project I've been excited to show you: my own beach dress, to wear over my suit as I biked to the beach or went up to the boardwalk for some fries.

I started with this black tencel dress from the thrift store for $3.99.  I started very late one night and just in time remembered to take a "before" photo.  This pose cracks me up, but it's supposed to show the length and side slits.

I cut the dress off to my knees, slit it up the front, and made very large bias binding for the raw edges.  I found the striped shirting at JoAnn Fabrics - I really wanted 1970s bright prairie calico for some reason, but I didn't have time to hunt it down (but 1970s calico is still burning a hole in my brain, so I expect I'll be buying some soon!).

Then I sewed on ties using  red triangles of reproduction feed sack -- the closest I could come to calico with my stash.  I am very pleased with this beach dress!  I feel smart in it (my husband called it elegant).

~ ~ ~

. . . the beach. . . evening. . . my family.