Every little girl would rather make something that is pretty and useful than something that is useful without being pretty. Now here is a very delightful pinafore that you can make for yourself, that is pretty, useful, and also easy.

The little girl in the picture looks so stylish in her pinafore that you would hardly believe you could so easily make one like it. But look at the picture on page 19 and you can see better what an easy little pattern it is—just a straight piece of muslin, hemmed and tucked and pleated into a band. This band comes across the chest, the two ribbons are taken over the shoulders, crossed at the back (just like a nurse’s apron straps), and brought round the waist to tie in a bow in front. The pinafore is made of white spotted muslin, trimmed with a sweet little insertion and tucks, and the ribbon used on it is pink. A pinafore like this would brighten up your school frock, and I am sure you are wanting to set to work to make one at once.

You will need a yard of spotted muslin 24 inches wide, a yard of insertion, and two pieces of 1¼-inch pink ribbon each 1¼ yards long. Now ask mother to tell you what length you require from the yoke to the bottom hem, because you want to have your pinafore the right length. The little girl in the picture is eight years old, and she measures 28 inches from where the pleats are put into the band, to the bottom of her pinafore. Then another 3 inches is allowed for turning up the hem, making 31 inches altogether.

Now, having cut off this length, the sides have to be hemmed. For this the edges must be folded over twice. The first fold is only enough to turn in the raw edge, the second fold should be ¼-inch wide. Now tack it, so as to keep the turnings straight, by making a long stitch on top and a short stitch underneath.

If you are not sure how to hem, look at the little picture on this page. Put the needle in just under the fold, slant it towards you, and put it through the fold near the edge. Repeat this stitch, taking up only a few threads of material each time.

Having hemmed the sides, make a deep hem at the bottom, first turning down a little fold, and then a deep 2½ inch fold. Tack and hem it.

For the lowest tuck, crease the material 3½ inches from the bottom of the pinafore, and tack it about ½-inch below the crease, to keep the fold in place. Now, we only want our little tuck to be ¼-inch, so just at that distance below the crease, start running it along with tiny stitches as you learned to do for the work apron on page 4. To keep the tuck the same size all the way, you might keep testing it with a piece of paper notched in two places—the notches to be ¼-inch apart—the width of your tuck. When you have finished the tuck, take out the tacking stitches and turn the tuck down so that the stitches come at the top and the tuck below them.

Make a second tuck above the first, the bottom of the second to be ½-inch above the top of the first. Make a third tuck, the bottom of which must be 2½ inches above the top of the second, and a fourth, having the bottom ¼-inch above the top of the third. In this way you have two tucks together, then a space, and two more tucks together. On to this space between the pairs of tucks you sew the insertion. Cut off enough to go across the pinafore, allowing a little more at each end to turn in. Tack it, and then when you are sure that it is quite straight, run the insertion along both edges on to the muslin, taking an occasional back-stitch to keep it quite firm.

The top part of the pinafore is now put into a band, which must be as long as your width across the chest. You were shown how to put material into a band on page 5. The little difference here, however, is that instead of gathering the material, you pleat it. Mark the centre both of the band and the material to be pleated into it, with a pin. Turn three little pleats on each side of the centre of the material. On the little girl in the picture these pleats are each ¼-inch wide, but you must test carefully and get them the size just to fit the band. The picture at the top of page 18 shows pleats being put into a band.

Now sew on to the band a little length of insertion, as you did at the bottom. At each end of the top of the band, however, leave about ¾-inch of insertion not sewn to the band. This makes two tiny pockets into which you can slip the pink ribbon afterwards, and you can then sew the ribbon and insertion through to the band. Then, as you won’t want to have the pink ribbon washed as often as you do the pinafore, you simply have to take out those few stitches each time the pinafore goes to be washed. Besides, you may not always want to wear pink. With some dresses you may prefer to have pale blue ribbon, or heliotrope, or even red. Whatever colour you choose, sew it into the pockets, and your pinafore is ready for wear.