Parisian Princess

I'm so excited to finally share this with you! It's a little commissioned piece I made a few weeks back, but wasn't allowed to post it in case I ruined the birthday surprise.


My Parisian Princess is rather too pink and girly for my personal taste, but I love the style and I'll definitely be making more...in fact I may have another custom-order lined up for April!

I think the thing I'm most proud of with this apron is how I adapted it from the McCall 1367 pattern from the 1940s. If you remember, I blogged about it briefly once at the end of this post, but I gave up on that apron/pattern as the construction instructions where so ridiculously fiddly. This time round though, I adapted the pattern and devised my own way of sewing it up.

The original pattern called for a single-sided body (heart shaped pieces) to be sewn into double-sided ruffles, which was incredibly hard when trying to also incorporate ric rac. Even when I pinned the fabric and ric rac together, it would all move around and come out wonky after being sewn. So frustrating! This time though I:
  • made the body pieces double-sided and kept the ruffle pieces single-sided; 
  • sewed the lace and ruffle to the right side of the body front;
  • pinned the ruffle to the middle of the back body piece so it was out of the way and placed the front body piece on top, with right sides facing; and
  • sewed the body pieces together and turned right side out.
Viola!





And look how neat the wrong side is!



I know that for experienced seamstresses this won't seem like a big deal, but for little old me it's a bit of an achievement!

Anyway, hope you like her!

9 comments:

  1. wow well done! this is incredible!!

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  2. You've done a totally fabulous job on this. I find that since I've been learning dressmaking, every now and the something I make will prove to me how far I've come. I think this is one of those times for you. Well done you clever lady!
    Pxxx

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  3. This is so pretty, she will love it

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  4. I really love the pleats in the solid coloured fabric around the bottom, it is so pretty!

    I love it when the inside of a garment looks as good as the outside :)

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  5. That looks lovely, a great style, well done you ;-)) dee x

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  6. Thank you ladies, as always I appreciate your kind words! And Portia, I think you might be right on this one ;o)

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  7. Oh, absolutely gorgeous Marie. It's definitely pink and girly enough for my personal taste! Can't believe how neat the wrong side looks too. Love it. x

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  8. So cute, and very well sewn!

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  9. Fabulous! I don't wear aprons and I would put it on ( and not take it off) in a heartbeat!

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