Beach robe

This is a bathrobe which is inspired by sea surf - the foam that washes in and out with the waves.

As I did not have much of the sea-coloured yarns, I had to plan the sewing pattern for least possible waste. I tried several layouts, but decided this needed the least amount of cloth:


(not to scale!)

With this layout I have only one side seam (the other is just folded), and only one shoulder seam (the other is folded). One sleeve is inserted in a slit above the "side fold", the other is inserted in a more normal way.

I would have liked to make proper felled seams, to make the robe reversible, but the cloth had too much bulk for that. I could have trimmed the seams with some kind of band, but decided on a "false" felled seam: trim and serge one seam allowance narrower than the other. After serging the other, fold it over the short one. Press. Topstitch.
This means I sacrificed the reversability.

Seam from the inside:


Seam from the outside:


Details about the fabric:
The warp yarn is a “mystery yarn” I once bought at a flea market. I had always thought of it as being cotton, but when I started to handle it I decided it must be rayon. The thickness of the yarn is more or less like a cotton 16/2. I warped with two colours, and threaded them “random”. The set was 10 ends/cm.

Weft is a cotton bouclé, also of unknown number.The average thickness could be like a cotton 12/2, perhaps. For the tabby I used the two warp yarns, wound together. Pick count was approximately 8 pattern, 8 tabby per cm.

Here is the draft:


I added tabby, partly to lengthen the pattern, partly to reduce the bulk. Also I did not have to worry about the warp floats, which are on the long side for these yarns :-)

The fabric is slightly different on front and back:



This robe was made in 2007, when our guild celebrated its 10-year anniversary. It was shown in the july exhibition - click here for more pictures. (The umbrella is also of my creation)