I'm still here, with a pinafore dress

If anyone is still reading, hi, it's been a minute! Since I last blogged, we had a great summer with family before moving south to Bogota, Colombia two months ago.  This fall we've been acclimating to our new home and waiting for our stuff to arrive.

The adjustment is going well.  We have a lovely apartment up in the hills on the eastern side of the city (which is where these photos were taken).  Our favorite part is the large terrace with a beautiful view of the city.  It is not always this sunny in Bogota, but when it is, the terrace is where I hang out!

We are finding ourselves incredibly busy.  Bogota is a huge city with a lot to do, but also a lot of traffic, so getting anywhere takes time.  For a little while, I was wondering when I would find time to sew, let alone to blog, but I'm happily back at it and working on a new pair of Ginger jeans.  In the meantime though, I wanted to get a few things that I sewed back in the States up on the blog for the sake of record-keeping.

(Happily, I jotted down some notes on this pinafore immediately after I made it back in June - otherwise I'd have no idea what my mods were.)

I got the free pattern for the dress here.  It was drafted by Bobbins and Buttons for Sew Now Mag. There are no instructions, as the pattern is a template that goes with an issue of the magazine that I do not have, but it wasn't too difficult to figure out (nor too long to sew - I finished the whole thing in just a few hours).  I cut a size 20 (which is usually my size in Big 4 patterns) and took a 1/2" seam allowance, but I think I could have gone down a size.  I'm still considering taking it in at the side seams as it feels a bit voluminous.

The pinafore straps and top half are faced with some heavy cotton shirting from my stash.  I found the front bib a bit wide, so I took 5/8" off the sides, tapering to nothing at the hip curve.  I also cut 1.5" off the top of the bib and lengthened the straps by 3.5" to make it sit lower.  I only really needed about 2" of length.

As drafted the pinafore is very a-line.  I wanted a straighter silhouette, so I took in the side seams 1 3/8" at the hem, tapering to nothing at the top sides.  I like the slight tulip shape this gave the front, however, it didn't quite work in the back and the skirt flares out a bit in an odd way.  I'd need to mess with the back pattern piece to fix that.

I cut the pinafore from an oddly shaped piece of leftover corduroy, so I needed to do some piecing to the front.  I ended up making a hem band that was pieced in the middle.  I topstitched it, but didn't use contrasting thread so it's not very noticeable.

To get to this length, in addition to lengthening the straps, I took a 2" hem allowance.

After I made this pinafore, I made a second one.  I don't have any photos yet, but it was made basically the same as the first, so I'll probably blog it later with another garment.

That's all I have for now.  Hope to be back soon with a made-in-Bogota garment.

Thanks for reading and see you next time!