A few times a year, not specifically in honor of the new year, I sit down with my fiber and fabric stashes and look through them. Am I still inspired by the materials in each stash? Do I still see myself working with them? Fabric and yarn are meant to be used and enjoyed, if I am no longer the person doing those things I like to think that I’m releasing them to find the person who will. While going through my fabric stash this time around, I stumbled on the half a yardish of fabric that I used to make my first Cleo Skirt.

Honestly, I forgot about this fabric and how much I enjoyed working with it the first time (which is why I like to sit with my stash from time to time). Occasionally, I rediscover leftover fabric (or yarn) and let it go because I don’t see myself making something out of it a second time. Sometimes because I didn’t enjoy working with the material the first time, others because I’m happy having made the one thing. Even knowing that the fabric can get a little wrinkly when worn, I instantly knew it needed to be a crossover pinafore. The frog one I made a few weeks ago came out super cute and I can’t help but smile at the idea my own little girl with little ballerinas on her. Combine that with by the time she’s 6-12 months the weather will be warmer and I couldn’t cut the fabric fast enough.

My straps came out better than the first time I made this pattern, but honestly, they’re still not perfect. As with the first one (we didn’t know we were having a girl, so I’m thrilled that she’ll be rocking the little frogs instead of it going straight to a friend), I used some leftover black fabric to make the linning and had just enough fabric left over to squeeze out a pair of bloomers.

Strap skills aside, this is still a pattern I can see myself reaching for time and time again. The fabric requirements are low and the total time from start to finish is so fast! Even if our little one doesn’t end up wearing a pinafore every day this summer, it’s definitely become a staple baby shower gift.