A vintage Laura Ashley pinafore dress

So I have a bit of an obsession with Laura Ashley. I also have an obsession with pinafores, and the colour blue. So what happens if you put all these things together?

I throw my money at it that's what!

Luckily for me this particular blue Laura Ashley pinafore was only £9 on eBay so I couldn't resist. I really like the deck chair stripe and the large pockets on the front.

The only problem is that the waist and bust are not hugely different in size, which I think is to help it slip over your head with ease but being a 'curvy' lady I like things to fit on my waist since that's the smallest part of me.

That was partially solved by adding a waist belt although I'm currently on a hunt for skinnier one as I'm not sure this one does me too many favours. I do adore the combination of the red white and blue though! 

I'm going to try and hold back from whinging about my fringe again today, since its getting a bit old now. These photos were taken on a lazy day so I didn't do much with it, I swept the fringe back with a hairband and rolled the back using a hair elastic.

I put my hair into a ponytail and puled the elastic towards the end and then rolled it up towards my ears forming a roll. I then pinned the loose bits in place.

It is a little bit loose and isn't necessarily the neatest do ever but it was super quick and I think with a bit of tweaking it could be a great work hairstyle.

So I'm a sucker for Laura Ashley.

Do you have any brands you are always drawn too?

Sewing a reproduction vintage pinafore or jumper

I've always liked pinafores, dungarees or any kind of skirt with straps that go over the shoulder. I've had 'vintage pinafore' saved on my eBay saved searches for years. But I've not had much luck. For some reason the pinafore skirt doesn't seem to crop up much in the UK. There's been a bit of a fad lately to have little skater skirts with braces attached to them but nothing really substantial.

So I decided to make my own.

I began searching online for patterns, and wasn't having much luck, but then I had a break through when I spotted a gorgeous pinafore on The Fiercest Lilliputian Blog (an awesome blog btw) and I saw that she called it a 'jumper'. Now in the UK a jumper is a wooly thing you have to put over a head (a sweater to my US friends) so I was a tad confused.

I took to eBay again searching for 'vintage jumpers' and got a load of Cosby sweaters...

But change that search to 'vintage jumper pattern' and a few results popped up. And then I saw on in my size (just about) from the US. It was a size too small but I was confident enough that I could adjust the pattern so that it would fit so I went for it. Being a pattern, international postage wasn't expensive and it only cost around £4 in total.

As soon as it arrived I went fabric shopping as I thought this would be a perfect Autumn transition outfit. I chose some softer green twill that was mid range in price, it cost about £16 for all the fabric I needed. I added extra full facing to the inside of the top because I wasn't doing the ric rac or binding from the pattern and that was a bit of a pain logistically. At one point I sewed the waistband on back to front and I had to unpick the WHOLE THING - that was 2 rows of stitching :( Oh, and fitting the bust was a nightmare! I've got to get a dress form.

Anywho, here's how it turned out!

Detail to the top (I LOVE top stitching!):

So here's the final product. I've not taken proper pictures yet, but I think the dress is a little too wintery for August/September so give me a few weeks. But you get the idea.

Saying that I'm pleased is an understatement. I think this will be the perfect transitioning into winter dress! I'm not on a mission to make it in ALL THE COLOURS!

If you like the look of a vintage style jumper/pinafore then Collectif's new season has a lovely one with a flock polka dot. I'm going to save up for that one now too as I'd love to try it out!