Written by Theresa Corbin

This week I have been a busy little bee, sewing, baking, writing, editing. In my endeavors to be productive, I noticed something vitally important … it is flippin’ hot (this being my first summer since I moved back to Louisiana). Snowball stands are open for their delicious cooling  business, the heat is all anyone is talking about, and people are starting to peel back the layers of clothing.

This is not really a surprise to me, and not really much different from the place I moved from to get back home to NOLA. It is hot all over The South, but the New Orleans area is just so humid. And since I refuse to undress for the heat for many reasons including  modesty (read my blog post about my hijab habit), I have decided to get off my sweaty you know what and get started on putting together a new wardrobe.

Sure I could order abayas off the internet, but I like to keep my own style. A quick look around the mall and Target had left me with the conclusion that the fashion industry wants to make women as exposed as possible.

Any shirt that you pick up is either see-through, or barely covers anything, and when you do, by some miracle, find a shirt that looks relatively modest, i.e.  long sleeve, it is either so low cut it is pointless or the moment you put it on it turns into shrink wrap, suctioning itself to the skin.

I remember wearing clothes like this in my pre-Islam days, but I guess I was used to the level of discomfort my clothing collection offered. These days if an article of clothing doesn’t offer a potential breeze to circulate between me and it, I cannot stand it.

I see people in short shorts and tight tees and cringe, not because of the amount of skin showing (I don’t judge. You do what you wanna do), but because I cannot imagine what kind of nerves-o-steel and tolerance for torture by clothing it takes. I would freak and run home for PJs.

ANYWAY, the wheels in my head were churning, the dust on my sewing machine was collecting, and then it happened. My sister asked me to join her on a fabric store expedition. I know good and well that when I get into a craft/fabric store I will not come out the same person. Usually the monster that emerges that was once me is loaded down with fabric and notion and tons of happy ideas about how wonderful life will be once I make such and such.

All my Pinterest activity sprang to life in my head and I bought two cuts of fabric. This was only the beginning. It was a gateway shopping trip. I won’t go into the details, but it got pretty ugly. And as of now I still have 5 projects pending.

I have managed, however, to make a pretty solid start to a summer wardrobe.

My first adventure was in the land of headscarves. I found a great hemming tutorial on Pinterest that has worked wonders on those slippery fabrics that I love to buy and hate to hem. This tutorial from cratsy.com works miracles.

And this was my first product, a minty green square hijab with black filigree looking patterned edges.

With one scarf over my head, I was well on my way to a new summer line. So, I started on a maxi skirt. This tutorial of course was also from Pinterest and I had been thinking about trying it out for a while. It’s from the blog Individual Rivalry and was super easy. I used linen (the official fabric of The South) in one of my favorite colors, mustard, and it turned out splendid.

But, a scarf and a maxi skirt does not a wardrobe make, so, what’s next for islamwich you might be wondering? More maxi skirts, for sure. One in sheer sucker-a light and breezy fabric for sipping alcohol-free  mint juleps on the veranda- and some upcycled men’s shirts like the one from cutandkeep.net, but with long sleeves.

All these tutorials and more crafty ideas can be found on the islamwich Pinterest board “Just DIY“. Stop on by and see what else islamwich is pinning on Pinterest.

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