Dresses for Cambodia

Just when you thought this blog was turning into a travel diary, I will stun all my creative followers and write about this dress. Yes, another peasant dress to join the multitudes already out there. But, this one is slightly different in that there is an important reason behind making it. I first read about the Dresses for Cambodia project on Sophie Slim's blog. Sophie is the architect behind another great social cause, The Sisterhood, and her generosity of spirit is pretty infectious. I wanted to join in with her latest initiative immediately but because life is feeling pretty full at the moment, I haven't been able to take on as many voluntary sewing-related requests and I decided I wouldn't commit to this one - until I remembered that I had a half-finished dress hanging in my sewing space. It just needed the butterfly sleeves to be finished and hemmed so this really was a very quick project in the end and gave me the motivation I needed to complete the dress.

My model was not feeling particularly cooperative but I hope you get a sense of the summery feel of the yellow floral print voile fabric, which is very light. The only misgiving I have about it is because the fabric is quite sheer, I had lined it with grey cotton so I wonder if it will be slightly too hot to wear in the Cambodian climate. Still, it will join the other items of clothing that will be sent over there in May and I hope whoever wears it will love it no matter what.

If you would like to take part in Sophie's quest to dress some street children, head over to her blog.