Acorn's Second Entry
Pinafore dresses for our goddaughters, who are almost three, and four and a half, but are the same size!
I used the Tui pattern from New Zealand company,
Below the Kowhai. Unusually for me, I made them as per the instructions, just a bit longer because I find children's clothes patterns are often a bit short, and too long is definitely better. I added the embroidery on the fronts, and my usual hidden messages inside.
I used 9oz denim from Guthrie and Ghani, with a little bit of stretch, because stretch denim is easier to iron, and I do love their mother!
The pattern was very good, and the instructions some of the best I've ever seen, right up to the very end, where the instructions for attaching the straps to the back waistband were woefully inadequate. They said you can sew the straps to the waistband along the lines of the top stitching at the top and bottom (no, you really can't - the waistband's gathered, and it would look a mess, and anyway, fixing the angle of the strap on someone who is going to grow seems like a bad idea) or put a buttonhole in the strap and attach a button to either the outside or the inside of the waistband.
I felt that a button on the outside of the waistband would look messy, and be very vulnerable to coming undone, and one inside the waistband would be uncomfortable for the girls (I am determined not to be the person who made them uncomfortable clothes!) However, a button would clearly allow the strap to swivel and lie smoothly even as the girls grow. In the end I found some nice big, strong press studs, which will have the benefits of a button, but be more secure and comfortable.
(By the way, they are both the same colour - my phone camera has a mind of its own.)
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