Monthly Archives: May 2015

Blue Cotton Linen-look Pinafore Dress

Many years ago I made a similar pinafore dress but that time it was in a Baby Pink Gabardine. Nowadays I think I am too old for such a solid block of Pink! I originally purchased this fabric to make a version of the Merchant & Mills Dress Shirt but the joy of being my own dressmaker is that I can change my mind.

I used the bodice block from the Needlecord Pinafore dress that I made in March this year but this time decided to add buttons and buttonholes through the bodice and the skirt. The special feature of this version was to be a scalloped hem.

The first thing I did was to add a floral cotton print neckline facing which included my pre-printed label to the back bodice. I had insufficient fabric to make all-in-one neckline and armhole facings so decided to use a 2” wide bias binding. I top-stitched close to the edge and at the outer edge of the bias – about ½” away from the first line of stitching.

To improve the fit of the bodice I added a couple of darts in the back. The skirt was cut from 2 panels each 36” wide x 32” long. One panel was then cut in half to be the centre front opening. I made two pocket bags which are stitched at the side seams and also included in the waistline stitching so that they don’t flap about.

I used a handy funnel to draw the scallops and they worked out fine. Although it does not show in the photograph, when worn, the right scallop overlaps perfectly on to the left scallop to give a continuous line. The edge of the scallops is top-stitched for added emphasis. There are 12 buttons from my stash which fortunately match really well with the Blue fabric.

This garment took quite a long time to put together so my next project is a really simple and straightforward shift dress to Simplicity 2120.

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Simplicity 5201 – A Sewing Overall

My next project was supposed to be a Blue linen-look cotton pinafore dress with scalloped hem. But as usual my plans changed. For the past 7 days my sewing has been mostly patchwork. Friday mornings are set aside for House Group with the Sprat & Winkle Quilters Group, Saturday I attended our first all-day workshop for a Scrappy Round the World quilt. I had a fabulous day, enjoying the atmosphere of 22 ladies all involved in patchwork, a quilt competition, sewing-themed tombola plus bring and buy sale, not to mention the terrific buffet lunch table accompanied by an audio visual presentation by two members who recounted the highs and lows of their road trip to the USA last year. On Monday I helped tutor a group in making the 5-piece crazy stack n’ whack blocks and therefore dressmaking has been on the back burner for several days. Whilst in Franklins I was tempted to buy 2 metres of a great printed linen-look fabric. With a background of khaki green this was printed with reproductions of French advertisements for scissors and other sewing related products. The fabric cried out to be made up into a sewing overall. I used a Daisy Kingdom/Simplicity pattern no. 5201 for this iconic apron. I made view A which is the shorter of the two views. The pattern calls for the apron to have all edges bound with bias binding but as did not have sufficient fabric to make this, I compromised by binding only the neckline and armholes. The back edges and hem were overlocked before machine stitching a very fine hem. I am pleased with the result and plan to make another with baking-theme printed fabric. I will make the same size and length but with a couple of minor adjustments. I will set the pockets slightly further apart and make some shaping to the silhouette by adding a couple of body darts in the front.

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Swindon Floral Cotton Blouse II

Well I have to say that I am glad that I have finally finished this blouse! I am pleased with the result but it seems to have taken an age. Partly this was my own fault as I decided to add a narrow frill to the collar and sleeve hems. I used three strips from a jelly roll that was supposed to be used for a quilt but as I have plenty of fabric for that project I had no qualms about using a few strips on something else. I have used the pattern many times so there were no fitting or construction problems – it just took a long time. Now that I have completed a project from my stash I can go forward and use some new fabric for the next project. A pinafore dress with scallop hem. Watch this space.

swindon blouse     sleeve frill close up

collar close up

In the earlier post I said that I had some left over fabric for patchwork and quilting but I have sold it on eBay. Proceeds will be a contribution to my next fabric shopping spree!!