Pippi Pinafore Dress

Often I'll see a new pattern pop up and think 'that's nice I'd like to make it some day' and make a note to pick it up soon or keep an eye out for a sale in the future.  Every now again I see a pattern that I have to buy right now and jump it right to the front of my queue because I need to be wearing that, like, yesterday! The Pippi Pinafore dress was one of those, when I saw it announced on Jennifer Lauren's blog it just ticked all the boxes for me.

I've been wanting to make a dungaree/overall type dress for a while but I've been putting it off because I really do prefer dresses with some sort of waist. Pippi seemed to be just that, a dress with an overall sort of look but with a nipped in waist and I really liked the pockets too.  I had some lime green/yellow (I'm not really sure?!?!) viscose linen in the stash that I wasn't too attached too if it turned out to be no good so I clicked 'buy' printed out the pattern, stuck it together and got stuck in!

This pattern is fairly simple, there are quite a few pieces and a fair few steps to sewing it but none of those steps are at all difficult.  The directions are pretty clear and detailed and I did enjoy sewing this dress.  I did have a minor problem with the button band at the waist opening because I'd got it backwards somewhere and I had to make another.  I nearly made it backwards a second time so either the directions for that part are a little wonky or I got all turned around somewhere.  The piece is lined and I used contrasting fabric so next time I'll just use the main fabric for the lining too and then I can just sew it the other way round if need be.  The other bit that I found a bit of a pain was sewing down the waistband lining, I just could not get it right and I think that may have been down to the lining fabric not stretching in the same way as the main fabric so I'll try lining that with the main fabric next time too.  The pockets and bib are also lined but they caused me no problems this time so if I'm short of main fabric I can use any fabric for that without worrying.

In the end I was so pleased with the way this turned out and I will absolutely be making another really soon.  I'm happy with the way it fits, because you can just place the buttons on the straps wherever is most comfortable you can choose exactly where the waist sits once the dress is made.  This is a real advantage in my eyes because you can really get it just right. I like the way the straps poke through buttonholes at the top of the bib because I think this is a little more stable and the straps are less likely to slip down than if the were just buttoned.  The dress is comfortable and is a great style for any season just by changing what you wear underneath.  I think this particular version is more of a summer dress, mostly due to the colour but I'm looking forward to making one in a light denim or corduroy for colder months.  All in all I like this one a lot and I'm glad I went ahead and jumped it up the queue, it was a fun project to sew and I'm pretty happy I finally found something to do with that obnoxiously coloured linen!

Whooops, strap was twisted!

Deer and Doe Bleuet

Let's ignore the undecorated state of my landing, it's the brightest spot in my house!

A quick whizz back through my old posts reminds me that I cut out the pieces for this dress in January, I finally sewed it up in a couple of days at the end of April.  Out with slow fashion, I'm bringing in slooooow fashion!  To be fair there was a new family baby announced shortly after I cut out the pieces so I've been preoccupied with a slightly epic blanket (more on that soonish) but I'm sad it took me so long to sew because I flipping love this thing.

The pattern is Bleuet and as I mentioned in the January post this is a new version of an older pattern which I'd really been on the fence about.  The updated version kept the elements I loved- the bow at the back especially and changed the features I wasn't too sure about - the sleeves and the collar.  This time I opted to sew the view with cap sleeves but I can definitely see me sewing a sleeveless version too. The sleeves are lined by folding the piece in half, so lovely and simple to do and they look really pretty.  The collar is a 'proper' collar with a stand and after having sewn a fair few collars in my time I can say that I much prefer to sew collars with stands.

Sewing this dress was really simple, no dramas at all.  The bow was really easy to attach and everything else slotted together perfectly.  I'll admit to not really enjoying sewing on 14 buttons, I didn't bother with the one on the collar stand because I'll never do it up and next time I'll probably leave off the 2 below that now that I know I don't do those up either.

The fabric I used is a lovely print cotton I've had for a little while.  I originally was going to make a Sew Over It Vintage Shirt Dress with it but the fabric was too narrow for the skirt pieces.  I like that I have made another shirt dress with it and I'm really happy with my fabric/pattern combo on this one.  I did end up having to cut the hem facing, under collar and inner collar stand from scraps of black cotton due to said narrowness of fabric so I didn't quite get this dress out of 2m but with wider fabric I'd have had no trouble.

Overall I'm really pleased with this dress and I can't wait to make another - I just need to teach Cassie to sew on buttons first!