Jennifer Lauren Pippi Pinafore

What's your opinion of pinafore/dunagree dresses? Personally, I love them! I wear both my denim Lilou dress (still going strong four years after I made it!) and last year's Freja dress loads, and for a long time now I've been meaning to add another pinafore or two to my collection. I was very tempted to make another Freja dress, but then decided that it would be good to try something a bit different so opted for a Jennifer Lauren Pippi pinafore instead.

The Pippi pinafore has a fitted bib, deep patch pockets and a side button fastening. The skirt has pleats in the front and darts in the back to give it a little bit of shaping. The straps cross over at the back, and the instructions include directions for using either buttons or traditional metal overall hardware for attaching them to the bib. 

The fabric I chose for my Pippi pinafore is a lovely magenta stretch denim from Sew Me Sunshine. As the fabric description says, it really is a perfect weight for a dunagree/pinafore dress and the small amount of spandex in the fabric makes it super comfortable to wear.

You're actually getting a double dose of Jennifer Lauren patterns and Sew Me Sunshine fabrics in this post, because the top I'm wearing under the Pippi is a Gable top that I made earlier this year using some Cotton & Steel jersey from Sew Me Sunshine (sadly no longer in stock, but it is available in a different colourway).

I really enjoyed sewing the Pippi pinafore. As with the other patterns of Jen's that I've sewn (my Raine dress, my Gable tops and dresses, Bronte top, and Enid sweaters), the instructions were really clear and detailed. I particularly liked the way that the skirt notches are labelled with letters that are referenced in the instructions so that you know exactly what notches you're meant to be using for each step. 

One thing to note so you don't make the same silly mistake I did - make sure you cut the button band and buttonhole facing the right way up! I'm a fan of pattern piece tetris and often flip pattern pieces over to cut them out if it means I can be more economical with my use of fabric, but you only cut out one of the button band/buttonhole facing so they do need to be cut the right way as indicated by the pattern piece. 

The Pippi pattern gives you a really nice finish on the pinafore. The lined bib and waistband give you neat insides (I used some lawn left over from my Susie blouse for the lining), and I really like the side button closure.

I chose to use buttons instead of hardware for securing the straps to the bib, mainly just because I like buttons better than hardware. While I was tempted to use some pretty buttons, I decided to be sensible and go for buttons that stood out whilst being neutral enough to allow me to wear the pinafore with as many tops as possible.

In terms of sizing, I made a size 14 and used the A cup bib (the pattern includes cup sizes A to D). That's the size recommended for my measurements, and it worked out nicely. The only adjustments I made were to lengthen both the bib and skirt by an inch, which is fairly standard for me. The finished pinafore has just enough ease to be comfortable whilst still being fitted enough to give it a bit of shape. 

All in all, I liked my finished Pippi pinafore as soon as I tried it on, and now that I've worn it properly I really love it. I'm already dreaming up more versions of the Pippi that I'd like to make in the future which is always a fairly good sign that a project has been a success, don't you think?

Winslow culottes & Gable top

How's 2018 going for you so far? It's not been too shabby for me, and I've got a couple of projects finished and ready to share with you today. I decided to kick off this year's sewing with a couple of tried and tested patterns to get things off to a guaranteed good start. So here are my latest versions of the Jennifer Lauren Gable top and the Helen's Closet Winslow culottes...

I've really enjoyed wearing Gable tops and dresses this autumn/winter, which in part was prompted by spending a week wearing them for OWOP at the end of last year, and I knew that another one would definitely fit in well to my wardrobe. This one is made using some lovely Cotton and Steel jersey that I bought from Sew Me Sunshine. It's on the pricey side for my fabric buying budget, but sometimes it's worth splashing out for something that you know you're going to love sewing and wearing. 

Gable top worn with my Freja dress and a Pink Coat Club Seamstress pin

I haven't made any changes since I sewed my first Gable top, so all the details in that blog post still apply (I've just noticed that I said in that post that I might slim down the sleeves - I haven't subsequently felt any need to do that!).

Now onto the Winslow culottes (and I'm sorry, I had to cover the Gable top up with my purple cardigan - it was just too chilly without it!). My original cord Winslow culottes were a bit of an experiment, but happily that experiment had a very successful outcome and I wear them fairly frequently in autumn/winter. One of the main benefits being that culottes are much less prone to (although not always immune from!) blowing up in the wind than all my full skirts!

This version is sewn using some beautiful aqua babycord from SewLoco (a fairly new UK-based online fabric shop - check out the lovely fabrics that Lucy has available if you haven't already!).

I made a slight change to the pattern for this version of the Winslow culottes. After the problems I had with the invisible zip on my first cord Winslows, this time I decided to split the waistband piece into two (in the pattern, the waistband is folded over on itself to create the facing). I then cut the waistband itself in the babycord and cut the second waistband piece in some Tana lawn (left over from making my Vogue 9239 dress last summer) to use as the facing. 

Doing this reduced the bulk at the waistband seam, and meant that using an invisible zip was no problem. While there's nothing wrong with the regular zip I used in my navy culottes to get round the waistband bulk problem, I do prefer the look of the invisible zip that I've used here.

So all in all, I think I can safely say that this year's sewing has started successfully. I know that both my Gable top and my Winslow culottes will be worn a lot, and it's an added bonus that they look pretty good together! How's your sewing been going lately?