Pages

Saturday 25 January 2014

It's a jungle out there - in the water

Jungle January in Australia finds us merging into our native environments of the beach, the freshwater lake and the local suburban pool… or with 5 days over 40C (110F), into anywhere with functioning air-conditioning…
Knowing that all of the above environments were likely in January, I needed some camouflage, stat. Something rated to SPF50+, in marine colourations, able to merge with the background water wherever it may be found and also to survive the hike in and lifeguard duty while there.

Enter Cake's Cabarita in spongy wetsuit material. It's in the snow peacock 'pant-tone' colourway, but do I spy some little kittys peeking out from that big cat print?




Traditionally a 'rash vest' is an essential part of ones wetsuit attire, designed to be form fitting and with seams on the outside to protect from the abrasions of the accompanying wetsuit. More recently it has replaced the Tshirt as appropriate over bathers attire for playing in & out of the water, especially for kids.

I snaffled this remnant of jungle print spongy knit at Rathdowne Remnants with the hope of making a T & swimming shorts combo - lets just stick with the top in this air-conditioned photo shoot today ;)

The Cabarita top is a Cake RiFF, simply a front, two back pieces and neck finish, cut out according to your body measurements and stitched together. I reinforced my shoulder seams with tape and hemmed the sleeves with a folded over hem & twin stitching. The wide neck band I chose reflects both the traditional high neck of a rash vest, and the collar of the Cabarita.

Perhaps swapping from dark green thread for my topstitching would have been the sensible idea, but there was water to be immersed in!

Happy Jungle January everyone!

9 comments:

  1. I love this shape and the color and all kinds of amber waves of envy are wafting in your direction!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cabarita in wetsuit fabric?! Who woulda thunk it? Genious, looks really pretty and the sea blue colour is the perfect summer.choice.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gorgeous! What a stunning print :) The colours are just lovely on you too!

    ReplyDelete
  4. You have a great eye for flattering prints. This is great. You'll look fabulous in and out of the water.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is the most glamorous rash vest I've ever seen. Gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I can only thank you for your annual inspiration and search widely for something else for 2015 ;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks Maria - It's had a fair bit of wear so far! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Much nicer than a stretched out cotton T! Not as cool though, need to stay near those splashing kids ;)

    ReplyDelete

We've love you to reply, comments make the dachshund & I smile ;)