Reversible retro apron - Simplicity 3544

I love looking at nice aprons. And this vintage inspired ones are crazy ... more work then an actual dress. I bought this Simplicity 3544 pattern thinking that this is one of the cutest collection of aprons.

I could not decide what fabric to use and how to do to be nicely finished so I just decided to do a reversible one... That may have not been the best decision.... This apron is a lot of work but a reversible one is insane.... I have never done so much pinning trying to keep both layers even. I decided to sew both layers at once so they will really stick together. The fabric o the green side was a lot softer then the white one so I needed support for this side.

I did the bias myself and it as a lot of bias involved. I changed the belt for it a little bit to help myself get a clean closure.Work, work, work and lots of hours later it was all worth it. I just love my apron. Is one of those thongs that make you feel better right away if you wear it. I may just keep it to cheer me up.

And a few pictures wearing the apron:

Navy polka dots dress ( BurdaStyle 07-2014-111 + Simplicity 3544)

A navy polka dots dress was often on my mind. But I never seemed to find just the right fabric for a dress until last week. And now that I had the fabric that I absolutely love ( it is very soft and pleasant when I touch it, it has nice draping and I can breath in it ) I realized I don't have a perfect pattern for it. I didn't wanted to do many cuts since the dots are quite big and didn't want to ruin their flow and that limited my options.

After waiting this long for this dress I didn't want to wait just as long to find a perfect pattern so I got working right away with the patterns I already had cut on my table from recent projects and it went smoothly. Here are the puzzle pieces :

• BurdaStyle 07-2014-111 top
• simple circle skirt
• pockets from Simplicity 3544 retro aprons view C/D ( I just did view A - only needs buttons and photos )

The top is size 34 with almost no alterations. I may add the sleeve band to close the sleeve that I did for the top to the dress as well and  I didn't do the split in the back.

For the skirt I did a full circle as big as the fabric with ( 1,4m ) allowed and the did another circle for the waist so I will have the desired  length for it. The waist opening was almost twice of what I need ed but I wanted to gather it to have more volume. Not sure if such a big and gathered circle was the best decision for the print but I just love my dress to much to have any second thoughts ...

The waist is white as the bias binding and the underskirt and it has a medium width elastic band. 

The pocket are from the retro apron : 2 layers of fabric and no interfacing since I wasn't going to attach them on the grain of the skirt fabric and I needed them to have some flow as well. I just love having big pockets.
 

Now I just look at it and wandering if my dress is at least a little bit retro. I love retro dresses.