I have had the Tilly and the Buttons Noa on my sewing pattern wishlist for a while now, as I do love wearing a practical pinafore dress and I always find the process of sewing a Tilly and the Buttons pattern really enjoyable. When the team at Minerva offered me one of their upcoming Noa kits, which included the pattern, fabric, thread, interfacing, needles, zips, plus a cute little zip charm, it was the perfect opportunity to finally give the Noa pinafore dress a go!

The Tilly and the Buttons Noa pinafore dress has a semi-fitted silhouette, with a princess-seamed bodice and a darted skirt. There are two options for the neckline, a round neck or a V-neck, and the option for a knee-length or mini-length. The waistline is positioned quite high -- it's not a true empire-line, but it does land above the natural waist on me, and I am short-waisted. The pinafore has an exposed zip front opening and an optional D-ring adjuster at the back, which nips in the skirt back slightly. I went for the mini-dress length with the V-neckline, as I wanted to be able to layer this pinafore under my new bardot-neckline Charm Patterns Barbie top hack and other mock-neck tops in winter. Designed for medium-to-heavyweight woven fabrics, the Noa pinafore dress works beautifully in denim, corduroy, twill, jacquard, and wool suitings. I can imagine a really sumptuous metallic jacquard version would be so cool for festive parties!

As I mentioned earlier, Minerva gifted me everything I needed to complete this pattern, including this stretch cotton denim twill. This is one of the exclusive Minerva print-on-demand designs and I adore the colourful houses nestled between the large leaves and flowers on the dark navy background. This denim is a lovely weight; it feels durable and holds its shape, but it is soft and not as structured as a heavy canvas. It is 98% cotton and 2% lycra, which allows for 20% cross-grain stretch. This small amount of stretch makes this cotton denim twill very comfortable to wear throughout the day. It was very stable and easy to cut out with scissors, and I used my trusty washable markers to indicate the dots and darts on the wrong side of the fabric. I made sure to use the sharp denim needle and my hump-jumper on any bulky seams to keep my stitching consistent. As this is a princess seam design, pattern matching along the curve is pretty much impossible, but I made sure to have the motifs correctly matched at either side of the zip-front.

Since this design is semi-fitted, I really wanted to avoid over-fitting the bodice. You need to make sure you have enough ease to easily pull the garment over your head and body, but the 3 ⅝" of ease at the full bust just wasn't enough for me and simply sizing up two sizes would have made the shoulders, upper bust, and waist far too large. In the end, I made a Size 4 and then made a 1 ¼" FBA (gaining a total of 2 ½" additional bust ease) and lowered the apex by ½". I followed the guide on the Tilly and the Buttons blog about making an FBA on a princess-seamed bodice, but I think next time I would try a different adjustment technique. As I was making quite a large FBA, this caused the front armscye to curve more sharply, which I needed to adjust for on my facing. I am happy with the bodice fit, especially as the slight stretch in this fabric is pretty forgiving, but I think the armscye needs a bit more work to look balanced after my adjustment. I probably could have taken the waist of this dress in a little, but again, I was being very cautious of over-fitting what is supposed to be a relaxed garment. I added the optional D-rings to help nip the back waistline in a little.

This is quite a zippy (ha!) little project and it came together pretty quickly. The instructions are really clear and easy to follow, especially for the burrito method to ensure you have a clean finished inner facing. One thing to bear in mind with this pattern is selecting the correct zip length and adjusting the zip to fit your body and any adjustments you may make. In the Noa kit, there are four different zips included: 1 x 8" closed-end zip, 1 x 9" closed-end zip, 1 x 12" open-end zip, and 1 x 14" open-end zip. As I made several bodice adjustments, I ended up using the 14" open-end zip, which I then shortened and converted to a closed-end zip. This was a pretty easy change -- you need to mark on your zip where you want the new closed bottom to end (⅝" up from the bottom edge of the bodice) and then pull out the metal teeth at this mark with pliers. Whipstitch across this new stopping point several times to create a thick thread bartack that will prevent the zip slider from sliding off. Remove a few of the metal teeth below your thread bartack and cut off the remaining zipper tape. Easy peasy!

I am really pleased with my sewing and fitting adjustments of this dress, but the final verdict? I prefer the fit of my Pippi pinafore and my Bobbi pinafore to the Noa silhouette, but I find this stretch denim fabric the most comfortable to wear. Although this final fit isn't my personal favourite, it is really great on days where a rigid, defined waistband is the last thing I want to wear! Plus, the fabric print is so cute, it really cheers me. So all in all, I am chalking this project up as a success 😊 I would definitely recommend this pattern to a beginner, as the instructions for both sewing princess seams and inserting the zip into the bodice are really clear. I am thinking about fussing around with the armscye on my version some more and maybe making a knee-length, round-neck version in a plain black denim -- I can imagine that being really versatile under a big, frilly, pilgrim-collar blouse! After all, there are apparently no limits to the number of pinafore dresses I would like to make 😅

Thanks for reading and happy sewing until next time!

Rose

Gold & Silver Stitches

Tilly and the Buttons Noa Pinafore Dress

Size 6 – 34

Full Bust: 30"- 60"

Waist: 24"- 53"

Hips: 33"- 61"

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