Every once in awhile, I get inspired by something that I've seen. This summer, while making the rounds to all of the farmer's markets and fruit stands, I came across some aprons. Not just any aprons, but really cute ones with different motif's. I ended up buying a blue plaid apron that had cute red roosters on it, for $15. At the time, I thought it was a great deal, and it made me happy to wear it!
On my next visit to the farm, I decided to buy another apron. This time, I wanted something for autumn. While trying to decide between a scarecrow or a pumpkin pattern, my husband, otherwise known as "my conscience", whispered, "I bet you could make it for less." My thoughts were, "Party pooper, you're staying home next time!" I left without a new apron, but figured that I'd be back.
After returning home, I sort of forgot about the apron that I had really wanted. Instead, I decided to work on a quilt. Needing some backing and batting, I drove to the fabric store with the sole purpose of finishing a quilt. I was determined to walk right past the cute holiday fabrics and head straight to "quilter's alley". But then...*cue harps*...I saw it. The perfect autumn pattern. Fabric that had scarecrow's and sunflowers. Fabric that just screamed, "APRON"!!!
With the quilt mission completely aborted, I had a new purpose...get to the cutting counter before anyone seen me! (I am sure that my dear husband has spies all over town waiting to report back to him!) Before common sense could kick in, I gathered my material, matching thread and eyelet and raced home.
Upon returning home, I placed my new purchase on the buffet and got busy with some other things. I needed time to collect my thoughts and see if maybe I could find a pattern for aprons. After all, I had NEVER sewn an apron before! I guess I needed a lot of time to collect my thoughts, because 3 weeks later, the only thing that had been collected was dust!
Finally, the day came, when I decided that it was time to jump into the apron project. The worst outcome would be that I would have to make quilt squares for later. I did find a pattern, but couldn't make heads or tails of it, so I had to resort to plan B. Plan A would've been to find a pattern, cut it out, sew it to perfection and enter it in the county fair. Plan B was to "wing it". Now that, I can do.
I laid my newly washed material out on the kitchen table. The rooster apron that I had previously purchased was placed on top of that. I had to move it around a little to make sure that the scarecrow pattern would be straight. I then took my scissors and carefully cut around the entire apron, adding approximately 2 inches all around. With that done, I folded over edges, pinned, then sewed a seam around the two sides and the top. Then I cut out a scarecrow square and sewed it in top of an identical square for a pocket. I found some contrasting material in a pile of forgotten projects (More spontaneous shopping!) and cut strips for the ties and the neck piece. Those were stitched into 3 individual "tubes" with one end left open (sewed inside out) so that I could turn them right side out. Before sewing the ties onto the apron, I measured the tie length that I would need. Then I did the same for the neck piece. After cutting to length and sewing those on, I tried on the apron to check the overall length before putting in the bottom hem. Lastly, I hand-sewed the eyelet across the bottom.
The total amount spent on this project was less than $6. And, it only took a couple of hours! The greatest part? My husband saying, "I knew you could do it."
No comments:
Post a Comment