Make, Sew
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Green Pinafore

I may have mentioned that last Saturday was my birthday.

Generally, a weekend birthday is a good thing, but these days I just feel like Saturdays are for chores. Still, we made the most of it, had a slow morning, ate brunch and cake at a nice cafe, and made a trip in the afternoon to the Maybachufer fabric market.

Where I bought a lot of fabric.

I’m sure you’ll see a great deal of things pop up here in a the next few months, but for today, let’s talk about this beautiful forest green floral material.

I don’t know what it is. But I knew immediately what it was going to become, and started cutting the second I got home.

Pinafore, baby.

The simplest of designed with a slightly gathered mid-calf skirt, a square-ish bib, criss-cross ties and a overlapping back closure.

Here it is from the reverse, in the obligatory hanging-on-my-door photo:

The button is followed by a couple of snaps to allow me to wiggle in. I contemplated buttons all the way down but it seemed like

a) like way more work to do buttonholes (remember: Ikea machine, none of this ‘one push buttonhole nonsense)

b) less comfortable (who wants to sit on buttons)

c) more likely to gape/be screwed up by irreversibly wrong placement (don’t even ask my how many times I had to unpick and reposition those snaps!)

I didn’t bother interfacing the waist band, as the material is quite thick (I think it’s really a cushion material as opposed to a dress material). But the front bib has an extra ‘tail’ of a couple of centimetres that drops behind the waist, and kind of stabilises that area even more.

And, as you can see, the two shoulder straps are just flattened tubes of material, much like the waistband.

Do you see the chalk on the right cross strap? I originally planned to put matching cream buttons there, but then realised that the buttons I own are way too small, and would look kinda silly. I guess if I find something to suit I’ll add them on in post. But probably only as decorative, and not as functional buttons.

And of course. Pockets!

Because Feminism.

Autumn is fading fast so we took a few moments to take photos in amongst the remaining leaves. For the beauty, but also because this location is super close to my home, and it was very-definitely too cold to be out there without a coat.

Do you know how the weather lady described the rain situation for this weekend?

‘Practically unending’.

Which really has a bit of a pessimistic tone to it, don’t you think?

In any case, it did end (and in fact was for the most part only a rather pathetic drizzle), and we took some obligatory ‘standing awkwardly while looking at the sky’ shots.

Or, as the case may be, the ground:  So of course, it being a pinafore and all, I can put all sorts of tops underneath it.

Perfect for Summer, perfect for Winter*.

*you know, with a few extra layers on top as well.

If you told me a few years ago that I would be wearing this top, I probably would have laughed. I always hated pink, and I rarely used to wear anything with sleeves (because sweating is gross).

But here we are, at the tail end of 2017, and I have this incredible desire to buy all of the shirts! Specifically, to buy all of the 100% silk shirts (I am fancy don’t you know). And even more specifically, to buy all of the long-sleeved silk shirts that also have some kind of ruffle or bow down the front.

I suppose I have about 5 of them now. All second hand. And all ‘practically perfect in every way’.

Anyway, I think of this pale pink pretty as my ‘Cosette shirt’, because I wore it last month when dressing up like all of the characters from the musical Les Miserables to sing ‘One Day More’ in a video montage for my cousin’s 30th Birthday.

And, (although I’ll admit that the black stockings are a bit heavy with it), I happen to think that my Cosette shirt and my new pinafore are a fairly lovely combination …But as I said: pinafore.

So other options are available.    

^Captured! The actual moment when a leave hit me smack in the face.

That’s all for now folks, until next time!

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