A sewing blog about building a functional, cohesive handmade wardrobe, one garment at a time.

Monday, October 15, 2018

I'm still here, with a pinafore dress

Corduroy pinafore sewn from the free pinafore sewing pattern in Sew Now Magazine by Bobbins and Buttons.

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!

Corduroy pinafore sewn from the free pinafore sewing pattern in Sew Now Magazine by Bobbins and Buttons.

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.)

Corduroy pinafore sewn from the free pinafore sewing pattern in Sew Now Magazine by Bobbins and Buttons.

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.

Corduroy pinafore sewn from the free pinafore sewing pattern in Sew Now Magazine by Bobbins and Buttons.

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.

Corduroy pinafore sewn from the free pinafore sewing pattern in Sew Now Magazine by Bobbins and Buttons.

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!

Corduroy pinafore sewn from the free pinafore sewing pattern in Sew Now Magazine by Bobbins and Buttons.

7 comments:

  1. So cute!
    I think I need to sew a pinafore, stat.

    Lovely to hear from you again.

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    1. I really love mine. But I think pinafores are mostly the rage in the sewing community - I haven't seen any at all "in the wild."

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  2. very cute. I'm seeing corduroy everywhere lately - feels like fall :) And just realizing that you are in Bogota, another sewing blogger/instagrammer I follow has recently moved to Bogata also. You should meet up with her! she is @sewsouthlondon

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    1. Thank you Beth, I will check her out!

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  3. I love this on you Masha! It looks great.
    How are you all settling in?

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    1. Thank you Katy! Blogger stopped sending comments to my email address for review, so I'm just seeing this now. I think we're pretty well settled at this point (but it's been a couple months).

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  4. I think you can remove abut from back seam at the hem tapered th back waist ... That might take that proofing off a bit.

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Hi! I am so happy you came by. Thanks for your comment!