Corduroy Ivy Pinafore

I’m finally back to fun personal sewing! My first project post-bridesmaid dress was this corduroy pinafore that I’d been wanting to make for a couple months. On the morning of the day I left for the wedding, I dropped my sewing machine off for a tune-up. It had been having tension issues and also just generally needed some help, and it seemed like a good time to do it because I knew I wouldn’t be able to use it while I was away for the weekend. Does anyone else do that thing where they keep meaning to send it in for basic maintenance and then you say “oh just ONE more project” and then suddenly it’s two years later and you’re the worst sewing machine caretaker ever? No? Just me? Anyway. I had Halloween sewing plans and even had the fabric and had fitted my base pattern and then my sewing machine’s woes required replacement of a few parts soooo I didn’t get it back until November 1. Alas. But it was a good thing in some ways because then it meant that the next project up on deck was completely wide open! And I was really feeling like sewing some cozy corduroy – voila! (Also, enjoy the fact that I didn’t notice my dog’s favourite toys were in most of these photos: Christmas-themed wiener dog and strangely elongated orange cow.)

I’d been eyeing a few of the pinafore patterns that have come out from various pattern companies over the last year or more, but I felt like a lot of them would look kind of childish on me. As well, where I teach cello and double bass, I have stopped making clothing that I’m not capable of playing those instruments in (ie. pencil skirt types of things) because it means I can only wear those garments at very specific times and not to work. And a lot of the pinafores out there were more fitted on the lower half. But then I found the Ivy Pinafore by Jennifer Lauren Handmade and I knew it was the right one for me! This is the A-line version of the pattern, and I super love it!

This is a straight size 12 (I’m 5’4″ and my measurements are 37.5″/29.5″/39″ – at least last time I checked, I really should remeasure), and I’m really happy with the fit. She notes in the hemming instructions that it’s drafted for a D cup (which might be relevant if you made the view with darts) and so the hem might be uneven in the front if you are a different size cup like me (I’m a B). But I threw caution to the wind because I wanted to finish and couldn’t handle the thought of changing the hem length and measuring it and it was late at night and no one was awake to assist. ALSO, full disclosure: this is fully lined and I had sewn the correct yoke pieces to the lining front and back, but when I sewed the exterior yoke pieces to the fashion fabric, I sewed the front to the back and vice versa. So. After an hour of seam ripping (because of course I had top-stitched it AND serged/overlocked the seam), I couldn’t handle the hem thing. And I think it looks good anyway and I can’t tell the difference. So I say it’s fine! Totally fine!

I forgot to mention – the fabric is a narrow wale corduroy that I got from Patch but it’s not on their website so I can’t point you toward it. But it’s made by Kokka and I LOVE it. So drapey for a corduroy and very soft. It’s a lighter weight than I usually see. For the yoke I used a navy corduroy that I just got at Fabricville, and for the lining I got a 100% cotton broadcloth on sale for $3/m because I couldn’t justify anything more expensive. I used it to line the pockets as well because I thought the corduroy would be too bulky, and I’m happy with my decision.

I had lofty dreams of pattern matching down the center front and back seams on this pinafore. But as you can see below, it didn’t really happen. I TRIED, I swear. But it was a perfect storm of snags. The polka dot pattern is not completely regular. The pattern pieces are not cut with the grainline running straight down the center front (which I think is to help with drape of the dress). AND I had to cut my pieces at slightly different orientations with respect to the marked grainline on the pattern pieces because I was fudging the fabric requirements a bit. So I managed to get a few of the polka dots to line up especially at the top of the front, and I’ll take it. I think it camouflages pretty well with the fall of the skirt anyway.

Overall, I’m very happy with my pinafore! I’ve already worn it to teach once and it was very comfortable but I still felt professional and not childish. The only thing was I struggled initially with how to style it. I’m hoping to figure out more garments in my closet to layer with it on top – I’ve seen some good turtleneck pairings on Instagram, but I don’t own any. Perhaps now is the time! I also keep meaning to make some copies of this RTW shirt that I’m wearing in these photos; it’s one of those things that’s the only shirt that goes with a bunch of bottoms I have, and I really should duplicate it. Does anyone have any good turtleneck patterns? Scoopneck knit shirt patterns? Hit me up in the comments!