Hallo. Hallo.

This post….{and the one following tomorrow}…has been a long time coming.

With that said, I am happy to introduce my York Pinafore 2.0….a garment that I’ve worn frequently since sewing it last autumn. Yeppers…it passed the test of time. A lot of time.

So. Who remembers my first York Pinafore, seen above, and blogged here?  Oh my goodness…I wanted to like that garment so much….but…..no matter what top I wore with it, there was…keeping it real my friends…way too much side-boob. Not a surprise really…the included FBA instructions didn’t work well for me and I ended up fitting the pattern based on my upper bust measurement, not my full bust measurement. And for someone that routinely does a 2″ FBA…well…you see the results.

After some thought I came up with a solution that I’m really pleased with and today I’m sharing my how-to with you.

First up….reviewing the fit of my original York {many moments at the mirror giving it the side eye}. Turns out I felt confident with the fit of my pinafore everywhere except that dang front bodice. My mental wheels turned and churned a bit before I had my little ah-ha moment. ‘Yep, said me. I do need to add my usual 2″ adjustment, just not in the usual way.’

Here’s what worked for me. I based my garment size on my upper bust measurement {typical}, keeping in mind that my usual FBA adjustment is to add 2″ in total. As we always divide the required amount by two, I added 1″ to the outside edge of the armhole beginning at the shoulder seam and tapering to the original pattern where it curves at the waist.  In order for my front and back pattern pieces to match at the shoulder, I added 1″ to the pattern back piece as well.

Okay…one more {optional} step that I did. It isn’t necessary, but I chose to carve out my neckline at the shoulder seam by about 1″ on both front and back pattern pieces. In doing so, I feel I’ve more closely retained the original vibe of Helen’s design.

My fabric choice is a soft pinwale corduroy. The grid pattern is a print, not woven into the fabric….and totally off grain…so it was a bit of a nightmare trying to match lines etc. But. It worked out well enough in the end. One thing that I find with corduroy is that it sticks to other fabrics. Know what I mean? I could totally imagine myself getting stuck, arms akimbo, as I got dressed, or getting up from a seated position to find my dress hitched up over my bum. With that lovely image forefront I knew I needed to add a full lining.

My final small pattern tweak was changing the neckline. That side eye I mentioned earlier? I was seeing circles. Everywhere. I decided that since I was doing a lining instead of a bias tape finish, why not do a V Neck.

Tomorrow I’ll be sharing my how-to for the lining and the V Neck. Unfortunately it was just too long to include everything in today’s post.

‘k…see you soon.  I gotta go finish the Part II that I’m promising to deliver tomorrow….

Part II {LINK} : : V Neck and Full Lining Hack

Wearing : :

York Pinafore Pattern : : Helen’s Closet, currently on sale and available here

Kalle Shirt : : Closet Case Patterns, available here