Party pinafore dress - tutorial

Party pinafore dress – tutorial

A beautiful leftover piece of silver fabric in my stash was still waiting for a new project, and it just so happens that my youngest is crazy about bling bling fabrics.
I had just enough left to makeher a sleeveless, lined pinafore dress — perfect!
I’d love to take you along on my sewing journey. 🙂

I’m sewing all seams on my BERNINA 480 with the Three-Sole Walking Foot with Seam Guide #50.
For finishing the seams I’m using my BERNINA L 890.

BERNINA L 890

The L 890 is perfectly suited for working with all types of fabrics, including knits as well as wovens. With One-Step BERNINA Air Threader ✓ Intuitive operation via touch screen ✓ Fast, precise & quiet ✓ Manufactured by BERNINA ✓ 100% designed and engineered in Switzerland ✓

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Three-Sole Walking Foot with Seam Guide #50

With three soles for sewing, quilting and topstitching ✓ Perfect fabric feed and even stitch formation ✓ Seam guides help you sew with precision ✓ Materials that are stretchy or tend to stick ✓

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BERNINA 480

The B 480 is made for all sewers and hobby tailors who love beautiful design but also sophisticated automatic features. A brilliantly simple machine.

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Requirements

–Irene pattern – Bel’Etoile
-main fabric
-lining fabric
-matching thread

Tutorial

1.Pattern adaptations

I will start with the Irene pattern but will make some adjustments.
I want to use the V-neckline for both the front and back and will omit the invisible zipper.

Therefore, we only need the front piece of the dress (V-neck version); the back piece is not required.

Since I want to create a break in the front and back pieces, I won’t cut them on the fabric fold but will cut them twice as mirrored pieces.
To do this, we need to add 1 cm seam allowance to the center front.

Now you can cut the pattern piece twice mirrored for the front bodice and twice mirrored for the back bodice.

Also, cut the lining twice, but this can be cut on the fabric fold.

For all four pieces of outer fabric, finish these edges with your overlocker in advance:
-shoulder seams
-side seams
-hemline

For the two pieces of lining fabric, you can also finish these edges with your overlocker:
-shoulder seams
-side seams
-bottom edge

2.Preparing front and back piece

Place the two mirrored front bodice pieces with the right sides facing each other.

Pin and stitch the center front seam at 1 cm from top to bottom.

Finish the stitched seam with your overlocker.
Press the seam toward one of the side seams.

Topstitch the seam 2 mm from the edge on the right side of your fabric.
When doing this, also stitch through the pressed seam allowance so it stays neatly in place.
Use a longer stitch length (e.g., 3).

Repeat these steps for the back bodice pieces.

3.Shoulder seams

Place the front and back bodices of the outer fabric with the right sides facing each other.
Pin and stitch the shoulder seams.

Press the seams open.

Repeat these steps for the front and back bodices of the lining fabric.

4.Neckline

Mark the point for your V-neck on both the outer fabric and the lining fabric.
Draw a line 1 cm from the edge of the neckline.

Place the front and back bodices of the lining over the front and back bodices of the outer fabric.
The right sides of the fabric should be facing each other.

Insert a pin through the marked intersection on the lining’s front bodice.

Now insert the pin through the marked intersection on your outer fabric.

Pin into place.

Repeat for the V-neck on the back bodice.

Also pin the shoulder seams of the outer fabric and lining fabric exactly together.

Optionally, pin in between the sections to secure them, and you’re ready to stitch the neckline all around.

When you reach the V-neck, stitch exactly to the marked intersection.
Leave the needle in the fabric and lift your presser foot.

Turn your dress so you can continue stitching the rest of the V-neck.
Don’t forget to lower your presser foot again first 🙂

This is how your neckline will look:

Cut into the stitched V, stopping just before your stitching line, on both the front and back bodices.

Optionally, make small snips into the shoulder seams, especially if you’re working with thicker fabric.

Now we’ll topstitch the lining to keep it from peeking out later.
Fold the lining upward, over the seam allowance.

Topstitch the entire neckline 2 mm from the edge of the lining.
When doing this, stitch through the seam allowance as well.

When you reach the V-neck, you’ll notice the fabric will “gather” a little—this is normal.
Stitch slowly and carefully.

Stop again at the point of the V-neck, leaving the needle in the fabric, and lift the presser foot.
Turn your dress, lower the presser foot, and stitch the rest of the V-neck.

After topstitching, your neckline will look like this:

Fold and press the lining into place, toward the inside.

Optionally, you can topstitch the neckline on the right side of the fabric.
I’ve done this here because I’m working with thick denim fabric.

5.Armholes

Since our dress has no closure, we’ll finish the armholes using the burrito method.
Lay your dress flat on the table as shown in the photo below:

Roll up the left side of your dress (outer fabric and lining together) toward the right armhole.

When you reach the armhole, pull the lining of the right armhole out from underneath the rolled-up dress.

Now you can fold the lining over the roll, toward the right armhole.
This will position the lining with the right side facing the armhole, ready to pin together.

The rolled-up left side of the dress is now sandwiched between the lining and outer fabric.
Stitch the armhole closed at 1 cm from the edge.
Then, make small snips into the curve to prevent the fabric from pulling later.

Now, reach between the outer fabric and lining toward the shoulder seam.
Turn the dress through the shoulder seam and press the armhole flat.

Next, repeat these steps in the opposite direction.
This time, roll up the right side of the dress toward the left armhole.

When both armholes are finished, your dress will look like this:

6.Side seams

Place the front and back bodices with the right sides facing each other.

Fold the lining of the front and back bodices upward.

Pin the side seams of the front and back linings together, as well as the side seams of the front and back outer fabric.
Make sure the armhole seams are pinned neatly together.

Stitch the side seam in one continuous motion and press the seam open.
Repeat for the other side seam.

We’ll secure the lining to the side seam to keep it in place.

Pin the side seams of the lining and outer fabric together at the bottom edge of the lining.
Stitch in place exactly in the side seam of the outer fabric, about 1 to 1.5 cm is enough.