McCalls jumper (pinafore dress)

Wisdom gained: If you go through the trouble of making a muslin, do it right!

I finished my jumper. It's great. I used a simple pattern, (McCall's 7831) but dressed it up a bit. I recreated the integrated, angled pocket from my Marta skirt. It worked okay, but the panel is wider, so the pocket drooped a bit. So I tacked it down for a small distance on each side.

I used the black silk noile that I bought from a vendor on kijiji in the Fall. When it arrived and was a bit coarser than I expected, I was not sure what I would make with it. This was a perfect match. It is so lovely to handle. I bought some rayon for the underlining, which gives the whole thing a nice weight. I underlined using the 'flatlining' technique, which surrounds the raw edge, eliminating the need to do a french seam, or hongkong binding. (See photo below). I also used a favoured cotton print to create bias binding for the facings and the hem. Love those little surprises inside!

So I made a muslin, and checked the placement of rear pockets (which were not part of the original pattern), and the length of the straps. When I tried on the finished project, I noticed that the rear pockets were too high, and the strap just a big too short. Good grief! Why bother making a muslin if you don't get it right?!

I added an extension to the strap, which allowed everything to be lowered a bit, and seems to have fixed the problem!

I used the Dungaree hardware kit from Kylie and the Machine. These are different from the hardware used in the pattern. Mine have a slider and the attach buckle, whereas the one in the pattern only has the attach buckle. Hard to see how that would work, though!

No trouble with attaching the jeans buttons, either. One reviewer mentioned putting a piece of canvas under the button (between the facing and the main piece) to give it more strength. Glad I read that review! I did that, and am glad I did!