I picked up a bunch of vintage fabric calendar dish towels at last years Renningers Extravaganza and haven't had a clue what to do with them. While making up the elastic pinafore this week, the sizing of some of the calendars looked just right for the body of a pinafore. So, I decided to give it a try. The concept is slightly different than the other pinafores as all the edges are already hemmed on the calendars so there's no need for those steps. I also made the casing differently as I didn't want to fold down the top and lose any of the calendar image. Here goes...
You will need:
- 1 vintage fabric calendar dish towel - mine was 16"W X 25 1/2"H and made a pinafore with the body 16" long (this would be the distance from under your child's armpit to where it would fall on the leg) and the top wraps around fitting a minimum chest circumfrence of approx. 18" and maximum of approx. 24."
- coordinating fabric for the sash, straps, and casing
- sash (2) - 3 1/2" X 18"
- straps (4) - 2 1/2" X 18"
- casing (1) - 2 1/2" X length of longest side of calendar + 1/2"
- 3/4" wide elastic (16 inches long)
Wash and iron the calendar (I washed on warm and tumble dried - rather than cold, delicate - so it would shrink as much as it was ever going to before I started.)
Sew the straps and sash just like the other pinafores. Set aside.
Grab your casing fabric piece. Turn all edges in 1/4 inch. Press.
Stitch just the short ends.
Pin casing piece to the calendar about 1 inch below what will be the top of your pinafore. Sew along both long edges of the casing using a 7/8 inch seam allowance. Do not sew the short ends of the casing closed!
Secure a safety pin to each end of the elastic. Use these pins to inch the elastic through the casing (and to help you pull the elastic back if it gets lost inside the casing where your hand can't reach).
Leave a little bit of elastic sticking out both ends and move the safety pins just inside the edges of your fabric piece so the elastic is secured exactly where you want it and won't move when you sew.
Sew through the elastic and fabric on both ends about 3/4 inch away from the edge of the pinafore. Then trim the excess elastic at each end.
Insert the end of one of the sashes into the space in between the elastic casing and outer edge of the pinafore.
Sew the sash to the pinafore about 1/4 inch from the edge of the pinafore.
Place the ties where desired and sew to pinafore. Stitch in a square pattern on each tie for reinforcement.
All done!
This concept would work for any dishtowels of this size, not just vintage calendar dish towels.
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