Someones birthday is coming up in about a month. In the past I've knitted her something, but I didn't feel like doing that this year. So after throwing several ideas around in my head, I decided to sew something for her. I made her an apron this past weekend.
I used to do a lot of sewing. I made most of my husbands clothes in the first few years of our marriage because it was so expensive to buy him clothes. He's 6'4" tall with extra long arms. Clothing for tall sizes was prohibitive for our meager budget.
After the second daughter came along, though, I ran out of time for sewing. Priorities changed. I know prices came down on tall sizes so it was easier to get store bought. But mostly, I was so busy taking care of 2 little girls.
This apron turned out to be a much bigger challenge than I figured it would be. In this simple little garment I had to quilt (the upper bib), put in darts (the lower bib),
do knife pleats in the skirt part,
and box pleats in the pockets.
In addition, practically everything is lined. I say practically because the back of the skirt is supposed to be lined but I chose not to do that. There's also supposed to be some rick-rack trim, but I don't see the receiver of this gift as a rick-rack kind of person, so I left it out too.
I'm so out of practice I had a very hard time sewing a straight line, and finding all my tools was problematic. All in all, though, it turned out fine. I hope she likes it.
I love the fabric. I went to our local quilting shop, Bear Paw Quilting, for it. I'd never been in the shop before even though it's right next door to one of our local yarn shops. The fabric selection was jaw dropping. I expect I'll be going there again.
The pattern is a free one I found on the Internet called Pleated Apron. Actually, when I Googled 'free apron pattern' I was surprised at how many there are. Aprons must be 'in'.
I have some fabric leftovers so I'm going to make a couple matching potholders.
There's a little story I want to share that happened yesterday. As y'all know, I recently had a blog contest drawing. One of the prizes was a set of onyx and dalmatian jasper beaded stitch markers. Yesterday I went to pack the prizes in a box to ship to the winner. I'd left them on the dining room table, together. The yarn was there, and the jam, but the little ziplock bag with the stitch markers was nowhere to be found.
The thought came to me that perhaps Merino had managed to steal them. He loves to play with little plastic packages. So I searched the house. Ruth joined in the search. We looked everywhere. Under the furniture, behind the furniture, in every place we know Merino likes to hide his toys and places he wouldn't think of. Could not find it anywhere.
After some more thought I began to wonder if the scenario had more likely been Merino stole the bag, dropped it on the floor, and Cable grabbed and made off with it outside. She likes to chew on small things. Expecially plastic things. We try to keep them out of her reach, but Merino has become her partner in crime.
I went outside to look around. The snow had finally melted off the back yard and the mess that is there is unbelievable! Little plastic bits of packaging all over the place, along with shredded paper towels, kleenexes, chewed up clothes pins, pencils, pens, missing computer parts, a pair of now-broken reading glasses, and whatnot. Ruth even found the buttons I bought for the lime and black baby cardigan. Everything Cable stole this winter is now showing. Oh My God! What a mess spread over the whole backyard! I began the arduous task of looking for the bag of stitch markers.
As I walked around searching every inch of the back yard it began to snow---hard. It snowed so hard the lawn was covered in just a matter of minutes making the search very difficult. Nevertheless, I spotted the upper half of the missing bag. Yup! She'd chewed it up. There is no sign of the bottom half or the stitch markers. This morning, after the snow finally melted away, I went out and looked everywhere for them. Either she buried them, or ate them. I keep going out to look every so often in hopes of finding them. I hope to laugh at this some day but right now I'm rather ticked off.
I made a new set of stitch markers. Fortunately I had enough leftover beads to do that.
Sigh. Sometimes I wonder what ever possessed me to get fur kids.
Live long and prosper. \\//
I used to do a lot of sewing. I made most of my husbands clothes in the first few years of our marriage because it was so expensive to buy him clothes. He's 6'4" tall with extra long arms. Clothing for tall sizes was prohibitive for our meager budget.
After the second daughter came along, though, I ran out of time for sewing. Priorities changed. I know prices came down on tall sizes so it was easier to get store bought. But mostly, I was so busy taking care of 2 little girls.
This apron turned out to be a much bigger challenge than I figured it would be. In this simple little garment I had to quilt (the upper bib), put in darts (the lower bib),
do knife pleats in the skirt part,
and box pleats in the pockets.
In addition, practically everything is lined. I say practically because the back of the skirt is supposed to be lined but I chose not to do that. There's also supposed to be some rick-rack trim, but I don't see the receiver of this gift as a rick-rack kind of person, so I left it out too.
I'm so out of practice I had a very hard time sewing a straight line, and finding all my tools was problematic. All in all, though, it turned out fine. I hope she likes it.
I love the fabric. I went to our local quilting shop, Bear Paw Quilting, for it. I'd never been in the shop before even though it's right next door to one of our local yarn shops. The fabric selection was jaw dropping. I expect I'll be going there again.
The pattern is a free one I found on the Internet called Pleated Apron. Actually, when I Googled 'free apron pattern' I was surprised at how many there are. Aprons must be 'in'.
I have some fabric leftovers so I'm going to make a couple matching potholders.
There's a little story I want to share that happened yesterday. As y'all know, I recently had a blog contest drawing. One of the prizes was a set of onyx and dalmatian jasper beaded stitch markers. Yesterday I went to pack the prizes in a box to ship to the winner. I'd left them on the dining room table, together. The yarn was there, and the jam, but the little ziplock bag with the stitch markers was nowhere to be found.
The thought came to me that perhaps Merino had managed to steal them. He loves to play with little plastic packages. So I searched the house. Ruth joined in the search. We looked everywhere. Under the furniture, behind the furniture, in every place we know Merino likes to hide his toys and places he wouldn't think of. Could not find it anywhere.
After some more thought I began to wonder if the scenario had more likely been Merino stole the bag, dropped it on the floor, and Cable grabbed and made off with it outside. She likes to chew on small things. Expecially plastic things. We try to keep them out of her reach, but Merino has become her partner in crime.
 |
| The guilty party. |
I went outside to look around. The snow had finally melted off the back yard and the mess that is there is unbelievable! Little plastic bits of packaging all over the place, along with shredded paper towels, kleenexes, chewed up clothes pins, pencils, pens, missing computer parts, a pair of now-broken reading glasses, and whatnot. Ruth even found the buttons I bought for the lime and black baby cardigan. Everything Cable stole this winter is now showing. Oh My God! What a mess spread over the whole backyard! I began the arduous task of looking for the bag of stitch markers.
As I walked around searching every inch of the back yard it began to snow---hard. It snowed so hard the lawn was covered in just a matter of minutes making the search very difficult. Nevertheless, I spotted the upper half of the missing bag. Yup! She'd chewed it up. There is no sign of the bottom half or the stitch markers. This morning, after the snow finally melted away, I went out and looked everywhere for them. Either she buried them, or ate them. I keep going out to look every so often in hopes of finding them. I hope to laugh at this some day but right now I'm rather ticked off.
I made a new set of stitch markers. Fortunately I had enough leftover beads to do that.
Sigh. Sometimes I wonder what ever possessed me to get fur kids.
Live long and prosper. \\//
Pets will work together. Tippy, the tabby klutz, use to fish cantaloupe rinds out of the peeling bin in the sink and drop them on the floor. Then he and Zeke would chew every bit of fruit off of the rind.
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