Denim & Plaid Pinafore

So... In less than a week, my daughter will turn five. I cannot believe that my baby is growing up on me! I mean, she'll go off to kindergarten next month! Whaaaat?!?! Anyhoo... So as a countdown to my daughter's birthday, I will share posts featuring items I've sewn for her over the years all month long. And today, I have ANOTHER pinafore dress. I promise this is the last one...

So the third pinafore I made for my daughter was an upcycle/refashion project.  My mother's neighbor gave me a few clothing items for my daughter, but they were size 4T.  She was just a baby, so it would be a long time before she could wear the dresses.  So once I figured out how to operate my sewing machine without sewing my fingers together, I decided to make these two dresses into something new.  This was my 1st refashion/upcycle project.  And I tried to make matching bloomers using the left over fabric from the two dresses, but I was having technical difficulties with my sewing machine, so I couldn't figure out why the thread kept bunching up under the fabric and why the machine kept eating the denim.  Anyhoo, I gave up on the bloomers and bought a cute pair of white shorts and a pair of hot pink shorts and decided the my daughter would wear the pinafore with shorts underneath. Again, I used the pinafore sewing pattern from Smashed Peas and Carrots.

the originals... I used the denim dress for the front of the pinafore, and the plaid dress for the back of the pinafore.

front & back...  I added a pocket to the front of the pinafore.  I left the original pockets from the plaid dress on the back of the pinafore. I added a ruffle to the bottom of the pinafore.

I think this shade of denim matches perfectly with the blue in the plaid fabric. I used yellow buttons to fasten the straps and on the little pocket on the front.

I added strips of denim to the back of the pinafore. I'm glad I kept the original pockets from the plaid dress. I think they're cute, especially since they have flowers embroidered on them.

my adorable daughter wearing her denim pinafore while playing with kitty...