Hot on the heels of the Teddy-print pinafore dress I saw this ditsy floral printed pincord in the sale at New Threads Quilt Shop and immediately thought it would be good for another pinafore dress. I bought just 2 metres and got busy.

I cut out the dress together with a lining in Cream anti-static fabric. I checked the bumper stash of zips and found a great match in a length of continuous zip tape complete with co-ordinating zip pull.

Having changed the threads on the overlocker from Black to Rusty-brown I very quickly overlocked all the raw edges of the pincord before stitching the darts and shoulder seams. This time I also remembered to stay stitch the neckline and armholes. Marking the darts on the lining fabric was a little tricky as it slipped and slid around but I got there eventually. Because the lining fabric is prone to fraying and I did not want to re-thread the overlocker, I used a triple stitch zig-zag to neaten the seam allowances which worked very well, keeping the allowances flat so that they did not curl or bunch up under the needle.

Having stitched the darts and shoulder seams of the lining I then placed lining and pinafore dress right sides together taking care to align the lining just a fraction over the pincord so that when I turned right sides out the lining would automatically pull to the inside. With pins at right angles to the raw edges the two were sewn together with 5/8 inch seams around the neckline and each armhole. The seams were then pressed and seam allowances trimmed using my pinking shears. To turn through to right side out is an easy matter of pulling each back through the shoulder to the front.

Now I could insert the zip in the centre back. When there is a deep scoop to the neckline I like to set the zip a couple of inches down from the back neck and this is what I did on this occasion. I used a lapped zip insertion and then slip stitched the lining to the zip tape.

The side seams are sewn all in one continuous seam. There is a short vent in the hem of the centre back and the lining has thread ties at the side seam hems just to secure the lining to the inside. Hems on both the pinafore dress and the lining are machine stitched. Finally also to secure the lining to the inside, there is a row of top stitching around the neck and the armholes.

The colourway of this pinafore dress goes well with both my Mustard and Teal polo neck tops so combined with the Teddy print I think I now have sufficient pinafore dresses to see me through the coming cold weather.