I know, I know, I’ve made a lot of Floras. I think the count is somewhere around 18. So I’m not going to bore you with the details of this sew, buuut these are self drafted straps so I’ll talk a little bit about those.
When I bought this fabric in the Liberty sale I thought it had a bit of an Alice in Wonderland vibe, not dissimilar to Rifle Paper Co’s Wonderland collection. I thought it would look great with ruffled straps to make it quite girly but with a long length and simple skirt to avoid it being too flamenco-esque.
I cut the neckline and back about 2-3 inches shorter than the flora pattern so the straps could be more of a feature. For the straps, I measured the length I needed from the back to front whilst pinning the bodice to me, cutting 4. I cut another piece that was exactly twice as long and twice as wide. I then folded the long piece in half, sewed it up and gathered it using a long stitch on my machine.
I then sewed the straps together as usual just making sure I captured the ruffle in between the layers. I kept poking the ruffle in as I sewed as it would have been easy to catch the fabric by accident. I then turned inside out and voila, ruffled straps.
I also added a tie at the back which I drafted myself and just caught in between the layers as I sewed the sides of the bodice up.
I definitely plan to do some more ruffles, it would look great with ruffles on both sides or I can imagine a bigger ruffle hanging over the shoulder in a really drapey fabric which I think would look amazing.
A few people have asked me about this one and said they were inspired to make something similar, so I can’t wait to see everyone else’s versions!
Kate Eva 