Fall fun

No, the fun is not the dish washing. . .it’s the making of a new apron! I still wear the fall apron that I made 10 years ago while pregnant with Twirly Girl. I love its autumn tree fabric, but I was getting tired of the plain butcher style apron. So I headed into the sewing room and found this colorful assortment of fat quarters that I bought last year for a fall wall hanging.

It was a bit of a challenge to design an apron that could be squeezed from only four fat quarters but I’m pleased with the results. In fact, there are only two things I would change. I wish I had made the center purple panel of the skirt wider instead of the same width as the yellow side panels; I would have had enough fabric to do that by making the pockets just a little smaller. Also, I wish the ties were longer–but the only scrap of orange fabric was a 1/4″ strip!

Stars and. . .Stars

During Dad and Mom’s recent visit, we three “girls” went to the grand opening for the new owner of the local quilt store. One of my purchases was red, white, and blue fabric for a new apron. Once home, it took me a few days to decide that I didn’t have the right pattern in my sewing room; I browsed patterns online briefly, but decided I could draft my own pattern for the idea in my mind. Except for the skirt, all the pieces were rotary cut with a ruler.

I love the way this apron feels on me! In fact, I like it enough I’m actually considering making a few modifications with an eye towards making it available as an e-pattern. For one thing, I forgot to put pockets on this apron. I also think I will try a wider waistband in front. And while I like front tying aprons (keeps me from dipping the ties in the loo), I think back tying might look better in larger sizes. What do you think?

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

The Apron Book

I’ve been eyeing EllynAnne Geisel’s Apron Book at amazon for some time, and last week I found it at our library. It’s an unusual sort of book, combining a general history of aprons with personal apron stories, apron patterns, and a handful of recipes. Illustrations include old art, family photographs, and pattern covers as well as new photographs of old aprons and of projects included in the book.

I enjoyed reading this book, but am glad I found it at the library (although I reserve the right to change my mind and buy my own copy later). My favorite parts were the photographs of people wearing their aprons while going about their daily work, and the personal anecdotes which were aptly labeled “every apron tells a story.” The history of aprons included nothing that was new to me, and I didn’t look closely at the recipes as I prefer to try new recipes that come from a friend or family member. The included apron patterns are simple, although that provides plenty of room for adding personal style.

I think this book would make a nice gift for someone who enjoys aprons or who remembers the days when every woman wore an apron.

On a lark. . .

If you sew, you may be familiar with Lark Books: they’re definitely worth hunting down for the eye candy and inspiration. However, when it comes to actually trying some of the projects, I’ve run into a certain amount of frustration.

My favorite, hands down, of the books I’ve read is Hip Handbags by Valerie Van Arsdale Shrader, which I’ve already reviewed. After checking it out from the library multiple times, I finally bought my own copy. I’ve made over half a dozen purses and bags using patterns from the book. Its patterns are fairly easy to use. They are printed on grids, so I just lay my swedish tracing paper on my cutting mat and use its 1″ squares to draw the pattern in the proper size. Easy work, compared to tracing Ottobre patterns!

I liked that book so much that last spring I ordered A Is for Apron by Nathalie Mornu. . .sight unseen. Again, the projects and ideas make me want to run to the sewing room and start creating. But wait! These patterns (even the rectangular pieces) must be enlarged to size on a copier, preferably by a professional (read: Larry and I tried to enlarge one on the church copier and failed miserably). So the book still sits on my sewing table, sticky notes marking projects I’m itching to make if I only had the patterns. . .

This week at the library I picked up another Lark Book, Pretty Little Potholders, thinking the projects would make nice hostess gifts. I may or may not actually make any (in part because I’ve got an awful lot of knit dishcloths to give away!), but at least the patterns look useable. Some give dimensions for rotary cutting; the more elaborate ones need to be enlarged, but because they are small enough to fit on a single sheet I could probably do the job with our scanner.

March sewing

It was a slow month in my sewing room but I did get some things done so that is good.

1. I finally finished my jacket! I am not overly excited with it but I have worn it when the weather allowed. I think it kind of looks like a barn coat, which isn’t a bad thing except this town girl doesn’t spend much time in barns. I think that has more to do with my choice of fabric (brown/olive canvas) than the pattern, which is the Casual Coat #18 from Ottobre 2/2007. For those who like to know, this is my usual size 38. I shortened the body 2″ and left off the chest pockets. I am not crazy about the lining showing at the collar (original has a hood, by the way) but I was down to mere scraps of the outer fabric so it couldn’t be helped.    
2. I mended another pair of pants. . .there are more holey knees out there but this time of year it gets to be a losing battle.
3. I made another gift; same pattern as the first, different recipient, no further details until December.
4. After hiding in my room to laugh hysterically at Boy Genius insisting on wearing my Coca-Cola apron (it has bust darts) to a 4-H foods meeting, I made him his own apron. I think he likes it! Self drafted; I referred to another apron to get the general shape but had to wing the design to make the best use of my remnant. 
5. Last but not least, the “Loving” nursing top #6 from Ottobre 2/2009. I suspect my fellow Ottobre fans were wondering when I was going to get to this one! But my knit stash is dwindling, especially in my colors, and until I realized how much I needed to shorten the pattern, I didn’t think I had enough yardage. Yes, shorten: in size 38, the top is 28″ long at center back and would look extremely silly on me! Unfortunately I didn’t get it right the first time (leading to frog stitching and resewing), but when all was said and done, I removed 1″ from the upper panels, 1.5″ from the waist panels, and another 4″ from the lower panels. I like it, and will post a picture as soon as it warms up again here. It’s too bad my nursing days are dwindling. . .although this is a nursing top I can continue to wear after weaning.

Next up: yesterday afternoon I cut out a new Ottobre hoodie for myself, using up some well-aged cotton sweatshirt fleece. In fact it was leftover from this project:

Some of you may recognize these little guys as being Drama Boy and Boy Genius. . .in 1998. And some of you may not realize you’ve sat in this lovely yellow chair; it was reupholstered some time ago and is now “the flowered chair.” Anyhow, after the hoodie I have a couple more fabrics pulled for me and I’m also contemplating a baby gift for my newest niece.

I’m not late, I’m really early

First, thanks for the compliments on our red outfits! However, I do want to clarify that I did not use stretch velvet (synthetic, not sure if it is knit or woven) but rather stretch cotton velveteen (cotton–duh!, stretch woven). For the most part it behaved like any stretch woven (a little squirrelly) but the deep pile added some challenges as well. Using the walking foot helped a lot, as did correct needle size etc (Sandra Betzina’s More Fabric Savvy came in handy).

Moving on, this weekend I was clearing off my cutting table, and found the stuff to make a Christmas apron. . .I am sure it has been sitting there since November if not October. I almost put it away, but then figured procrastination would strike again this fall. I already have a Christmas apron, but it’s a very simple one that I made to wear to work at the fabric store before we were married. So I made my apron yesterday and now I’m ready to bake Christmas 2009 cookies.

This is the “Flirty Skirty” apron pattern I bought at the local quilt shop. This is a size medium; I made a small the first time and the bib isn’t wide enough to keep me clean. The only thing I bought for this project was the rickrack; the peppermint stripe is left from my attempts to sell clothing on eBay and the gingerbread fabric and buttons have been in stash so long I have forgotten why I bought them.

Since I was in apron mode, I’m working on a second one from the same pattern. No pictures~it’s a gift, and I’m afraid my fabric choice would give away the surprise to the recipient. I will say though that I had to buy jumbo rickrack for this one, and I think I prefer the width I used on my own apron.