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Hey, Y’all! Thanks for swinging by at SewingBeginner.

In the past few weeks, we’ve covered a lot of basics, so I think we’re now ready to level up our game! Ladies and gentlemen, let’s get started with dressmaking👕👗

I came across an amazing pattern recently which is absolutely perfect to get started with dressmaking. It’s an easy-to-sew project which will give you a lovely and stylish garment to add to your wardrobe❤️

Enough chit-chat, let’s reveal the secret: may I present to you my Pinafore Dress based on a pattern from Nude Collective and purchased via Makerist:

The catch to this matter: while the pattern is in English, the instruction booklet is in German. However, it contains lots of pictures and thanks to translation services such as Google Translate, another language should no longer stay in the way of something😉

What You Need for This Project

Let’s start with what you need for this Pinafore Dress!

• Fabric. The amount of fabric depends on your size. Based on my body measurements, I’ve decided to go with a size M and purchased 2 meters of fabric which was plenty. My fabric is a pale blue denim and I purchased it from Sew Over It. I absolutely love the fabric – it’s a super soft denim and a great colour💙
• Thread. I already had a matching thread at home but if that’s not the case for you, keep in mind to buy one. You can either go with a thread that matches your fabric (that’s what I did) or you can choose a contrast, for example, by going with an orange thread🔶
• Brace Buckles & Jeans Buttons. You need a set of brace buckles, around 40mm in size, and some jeans buttons that go with it. My ones are 16mm in size. I’ve decided to have silver buckles and buttons as I think that they match the pale blue very well😊
• Basic Sewing Equipment. You need a sewing machine, a pair of dressmaking scissors, pins, an iron, a tape measure and a ruler. Have a look at this post here if you’d like to find out more about the basic equipment you need for sewing✂️📏
• Printed Pattern. If you have a printer at home, you can simply print the pattern on A4 paper and afterwards cut and stick it together with a tape🖨️ Otherwise, I recommend you send your pattern to a copy shop which provides sewing pattern printing in A0 format as a service, for example, Netprinter.

The Pattern

Isn’t it such a lovely garment? I’m a big fan of it and love the simplicity of this dress❤️👗 But let’s dive a bit deeper by looking at the pattern itself and some adjustments that I’ve made during this sewing project.

What I love about the pattern

• You can choose to either make a pinafore dress – so what I’ve made – or go with the short dungarees. The pattern and instruction booklet include information for both options, so the choice is all yours😊
• The finished dress has a comfortable, slightly loose fit and is just a pleasure to wear💁‍♀️
• It includes pockets! To insert pockets is a straightforward and easy thing to do and I love that this pattern includes them. After you’ve finished the dress, you can tick off “pockets” from your “to learn list”📝

Adjustments I’ve made

Like many women, my body has a triangle shape which means that my upper body is slightly thinner than my bottom and legs🔺Therefore, I had to make some adjustments to my dress. I took off around 3cm (roughly 1.2 inches) on each side at the very top and phased this out towards my waist.

Pro Tip 1💡- Be careful

When you make such an adjustment, measure it carefully and take notes. Afterwards, adjust your paper pattern accordingly so that it will fit perfectly when you would sew it again with a different fabric📗

Pro Tip 2💡- Get the perfect size for you

If you realise already when taking measurements that you are in-between sizes, you can adjust the paper pattern right away by starting, let’s say with a size 8, and then phase out to a size 10 at the waist.

Pro Tip 3💡- Removing fabric

Be careful when removing fabric at the top. In the end, you still need to get in and out of your dress so you don’t want it to be too tight. Also, it’s supposed to have a slightly loose fit😊

I’ve made my dress a bit longer (around 10cm / 4 inches) but that’s just a personal preference. I’ve added this extra bit to my paper pattern to make sure I didn’t forget about it when cutting the fabric and also so that I have a perfect pattern adjusted to me if I’d be sewing the dress again💁‍♀️

I’ve added a few details while sewing, for example by making sure I always have two rows of stitching lines with the same – or if not possible at least a similar – distance between the sewing lines (see picture below).

Summary

As mentioned at the beginning, I’d totally recommend this sewing project to get started with dressmaking. It’s a garment which looks great and is really simple to sew. Plus you learn how to insert pockets as part of your first dressmaking project💙👍

You can’t really go wrong and the instructions (in German though!) are taking you through the process stitch by stitch. Also included in the instructions are tips and tricks on what you should be doing before you start sewing (e.g. to wash and iron your fabric)💡If you want to find out more about this, check out this post here.

On top of that, the instructions include lots and lots of pictures which makes it an, even more, beginner-friendly sewing project📸

I hope this was helpful. Any questions please do get in touch or leave a comment.

Happy sewing,

Yvonne