Continuing on my fangirl-dom for all things Helen’s Closet, here’s yet another one of the makes I whipped up the course of a week. This time, the York Pinafore.
I don’t remember how old I was when I last wore a pinafore dress. I do remember wearing overalls in the 90s…but I was probably a wee child when I wore an overall dress. The recent popularity of the look has really baffled me. My teenage niece and I had a field day making fun of them in Target once…and then the York came out.
At first I was still on the fence, and then I saw so many cute ones on Instagram. They reminded me more of an apron than an infantile outfit, so I had to eat my words about pinafores (they tasted great, thanks for asking).
I had a short length of pink denim from the ASG OC garage sale and even matching bias tape I’d made out of a fat quarter. I posted a poll on my Instagram stories asking if I should use the darker or lighter side and the darker side won out.
I’m going to skip the PDF rundown since I covered that in the Suki post. Let’s just get right into the make! I opted for the View A version with the deeper scoop neck and side patch pockets but the length from View B in size XL.
In order of operations, length adjustments come first. I did my typical 2.5” shortening and then had to tackle the full bust adjustment. The instructions for this are to simply adjust the front strap length but in my head I felt like I needed more width than length (though boobs do raise your front hem). I called an audible and added 5/8” at center front instead.
Well, that was dumb. I ended up taking all the width out at the hips and all the way down. So yeah, next time I’ll just follow the directions!
Like with the Suki, I leveled up another skill set with this pattern too. I used what looked like typical denim topstitching thread on the pockets and along all the bias binding, and I am so impressed with how straight I was able to do it!
In the end I think this is adorable, but in a totally grown up/cool girl sort of way, not in a child-like way—even in pink! I love how deep the pockets are. They’re perfect for my super-sized iPhone, and possibly a small kangaroo!
So thanks once again to Helen for a fantastic pattern and helping me get over my aversion to pinafores. I’m thinking of reliving my teenage years and diving head first into a set of short overalls. Right now I’m working on my True Bias Lander shorts muslin, so perfect timing! Once I get those fitting properly, I can go about finding the right pattern for overall shorts. Can anyone recommend a good one?
Pattern Recap:
Pattern: Helen’s Closet York Pinafore
Size: XL
Fabric: pink denim
Modifications: removed 2.5″ from length and added 5/8″ to centers (removed below waist)
Notes for next time: add back 1″ of length, add length per instructions for FBA
