Finished Project: The First 1940s Pinafore Frock I Ever Made!



I bought a pattern from the adorable Inky Wine, a friend of mine. It,alas, is a size "tiny" with a 32 Bust Size.
I am in love with pinafore dresses of the 1940s. They just rock my socks. I KNEW this cute Holly Hobby Fabric would make a great pinafore dress. I bought the fabric for like $3 a yard on line somewhere....don't remember where.




SEWING DETAILS AND OTHER SAGA RELATED WORDS:
I waited about a year before I felt confident enough to tackle how I would  sew one of these. I had two choices:
1. grade up directly form the pattern
2. draft my own using my sloper and the original pattern as a guide.

I went for number two!
The basic things that I needed to do were
1. draft a shoulder-princess seam bodice, and add a fold over for the buttons and a square neckline
2. change my basic half-circle-skirt sloper into a back-button type.
For the bodice, I did some internets digging on how to draft a shoulder princess seam from a bodice sloper. I gotta say it went well! I made a muslin and I liked it.
For the skirt, I just added about 3 inches to the center back seam to be folded over and then button holes sewn in.
I LOVE LOVE self facing garments, and I learned about them from some of the vintage patterns I worked with before. Makes my life wonderful =-D



sewing machine necklace by a Craftster artist PinkDaisy at Robotic Love Etsy 

Ok I made this sound too easy......I will pat myself on the back because it was about 20 hours of WORK!

RUFFLES. (see they make me want Ruffles potato chips the whole time I sew them) The ruffles on my muslin were the same size as  the original, WAY TO BIG. More clowny than cutesy. I cut them down by about 3/4 of an inch. Much Better. I took the original ruffle pattern, copied it, cut it into thirds, and then spread the pieces out to match the notches on my BIG GIRL pattern, and taped them down. That was easy. Sewing them was not. I wanted the narrow hem on them to look real CLASSY. My sewing machine was a being a bitch. The top stitching looked "assy." I think the material was too thick and the narrow hem was too narrow for the machine's tastes. So I cut out a new ruffle and hand sewed the narrow hem. That sucked. Later I thought: You idiot; you should have tried the straight stitch 1/4 seam foot because it probably would have held the material better. Stupid machine. LOL


I omitted the pocket at my husband's suggestion. He says with the contrast belt that there is enough rose going on; and when I pinned on fake pockets, I agreed. Husbands with a an eye for clothing are to die for, am I right?


I also omitted the ties at the waist. When I put them on (yea I made them) and tied them I didn't like what it did  to the lines on the back of the dress. Because I leave the tie off, the back gapes open at the belt now. I am going to add a  hook and eye or a snap or something there. I think I want a few more buttons on the trunk though. I will pick some more up and sew them in.



The purple is fading quite nice. This is a dry pincurl set. I always look like a total spaz head. LOL

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