My lovely sister, who I rarely see as she lives in the UK, gave me this pattern, so I thought about her the whole time I was making this pinafore dress. It’s Simplicity 4789 and I see that it’s still available even though mine is pretty old now. It has so many lovely pieces, but I decided to start with the dress.

I chose to use a piece of vintage curtain that I bought in an antique shop that was closing down. I’ve already used this fabric to line a cape, but love it in the pinafore dress.

I did a quick check of the pattern against my body and decided that both the armholes and the neckline were too high, so I added two centimetres to the shoulders, dropping the neck, the armholes and the darts. You can see how it turned out. I also took 4cm off the body above the waist. I was not short of fabric, I just misjudged the length a bit!

I am really pleased with how this turned out and the shape is perfect for me, I think. By lowering the neckline front and back I don’t need to use the zip to get the pinafore on and off which is a bonus.

The fabric is cotton but has a beautiful sheen to the orange part, and is quite unusual. It will also go with lots of my autumn clothes, but I’m not sure I’ll fit a jumper under it. I will be layering it with tights and jackets I think. I’ve teamed it here with a Pattern Union Lulu tee, which has a nice feature up the sleeves.

It is comfortable and easy to wear and it doesn’t crease very much so I’m not constantly ironing it, which is a bonus.

The ubiquitous seated shot showing my knitted necklace, which I wear a lot.

When I was taking these photos I noticed that I matched the falling leaves, so tried to capture this. Of course those leaves all need to be raked up – they are everywhere!

I immediately made a second dress, changing the neckline back to the original but still dropped the armholes and darts. I also made it a smidge longer. I haven’t worn it yet, so stay tuned.

I thought I’d show you this video of Pepper, the cocker spaniel puppy belonging to my son and his family. She always jumps the gap between the two rugs in the hallway. When she first comes to the house she leaps about a metre into the air, but I never quite manage to capture it. This will give you the idea though. She’s always so pleased with herself!