Pinafore? Dress? Or Mess?

“You’re never fully dressed without a smile.”~Martin Charnin

I wanted to make an outfit for Alice and decided on this pattern from 1978. I wanted to make a little dress with a pinafore. Very quickly this sew took a turn, and I had to change up my whole plan!

The first thing I needed to do was to find all of the pattern pieces. I soon realized that the only pieces left of this pattern were for the pinafore. The dress patterns were long gone. Instead of giving up, I decided to make the pinafore and see how it turned out.

I ironed the pattern pieces.

I decided to use scrap Monster’s Inc. fabric that I had leftover from a dress that I had made for Alice, that she has outgrown.

Here is the link to the first Monster dress that I made for Alice.

A Monster Of A Dress

I started laying out the pattern pieces.

I got all of the pattern pieces to fit!

Once the pieces were cut up it was time to sew them. I had to choose a color of thread to coordinate with the fabric. I had a few to choose from. (Yes, this is just part of my thread collection at my house. Gotta be prepared!)

I quickly realized I was missing the pocket pattern for the pinafore too! Now I could have gone on and made it without the pockets, but what fun is that? I used the pocket placement guide on the pattern to make my own!

I used carbon paper to trace out the pocket, then added a seam allowance.

I decided on this contrasting fabric that was leftover from Alice’s Easter Bunny. I sewed the pockets and clipped the corners.

Once they were turned right side out I ironed them, pinned them into place, and sewed them on.

Now that the pockets were sewn on, I sewed the bodice front to the front of the pinafore.

Prepping the back pieces.

AND prepping the back bodice pieces.

Got them into place, but let me mention, the rest of the instructions were missing too! From this point on I was winging it!

Sewing on the neck facings.

I clipped the neck facing seam so it would lay flat.

Sewing the front to the back.

I ironed the hem for the sleeve ruffles. I guess that’s what I should be doing.

I sewed the ruffle sleeve caps onto the pinafore.

It also had armhole facings that I had to figure out how to attach without ruining the look of the sleeve ruffles.

TA-DA!

Ironing the hem. Yes, my ironing board cover is clean. Yes, it is scorched and I need a new one! It gets a lot of traffic!

I made a little custom tag using hybrid ink and stamps.

All sewn in! I had to get it in the mail to Alice!

I was worried about the sizing. I was worried that the pinafore wouldn’t work as a dress. It was shorter than a dress. I had plans to open the back and turn it into an apron if it didn’t work out. But it did!

Little Alice enjoying the view in Long Beach!

The back turned out even though I didn’t know if I was doing it right! And speaking of backs, that is the Queen Mary in the background. It’s the ship that brought Grandma Joyce to America!

All smiles!

It is a little short, but that’s not a problem when you have some orange shorts to match! Here she is with her dad, and my cousin, Christopher. Thank this guy readers, he built my blog for me!

That sun is getting a little bright! But a stuffed friend needed to get in on the photo shoot!

Posing, she’s a natural!

I’m glad I put the pockets on it. Alice might be looking for something to put in them!

Perfect dress for climbing a tree!

She’s so cute and her outfit is made for fun!

I think Alice likes her pinafore dress! Look at that smile!

She was sad that she had outgrown the last dress, and was happy to have a new dress in the fabric that she loved.

This could have ended up a big sewing mess! I had to change gears so many times with this sew. I guess that’s the way life is. You think you’re doing one thing, and life says you’re doing another. You think you’re sewing a dress, turns out, you’re sewing a pinafore/dress with missing pattern pieces and no instructions! Well life doesn’t have instructions. Like this sew, you’ve got to keep going, adapt, persist, learn, adjust, be resourceful, and keep a good attitude while doing it! You’ll be glad you did and you might put a smile on the face of someone else!

As for me, onto the next!