APRONS

Aprons

Studio, kitchen, garden

At last! The birthday aprons are finished

Sewing was commonplace to me decades ago when my children were young. I made dresses for the girls and matching pants for the boys. I used to sew neckties and give them as gifts till I thought the family would rebel If they received just one more tie. I sewed Vogue designer dresses for myself as well. It all started with the aprons though. The first project I learned at school, was how to make an apron. It’s funny, aprons went out of vogue and have now come back full circle. There is even a magazine named Apronology.

I saw several aprons in Apronology that really appealed to me so I checked out the various artists' work. When I saw Calamity Kim's submissions, I knew I was hooked and wanted to make some aprons. Kim is a seamstress and fiber artist. Her work is stellar. She is so inspiring. She shows you step by step how to make aprons on her wonderful blog.

Leaf I used on the aprons

We have a fall birthday bash each year and I decided to try to finish an apron for each of the birthday girls. I worked extremely hard in keeping them a secret. I had to be sure to lift them off of the floor, where I had to work on them, each time anyone came to the house. I wanted them to be a surprise.

I frantically sat at the machine day after day, embroidering and piecing together the flowers and leaves. I really wanted to use flowers from Woodloft garden, my home, but it was late in the season and most had died out because of the summer draught.

I must have used 4 spools of thread and many bobbins as well. The office, where I sew was strewn with thread that wrapped its way around my entire body at times. I am so glad I was able to take advantage of the beautiful sewing machine the kids got me for my birthday a few years back.

Kelli's finished apron

There was a lot of trial and error involved with the making of the aprons. I started with Kelli, my oldest daughter, and placed a piece of quilt backing to the digital image of her face only to find that it scrunched up completely when I sewed it. After that, I decided not to place anything behind the faces but to quilt only the flowers and butterfly. The whole time I was sewing, the girls on the quilts made all sorts of faces at me as I pulled and stretched them as they glided along under the needle.

Kirsten's finished apron

Nakisa's finished apron

I found some fantastic gloves that begged to be added to the aprons. They were all polka-dotty and flowery and matched perfectly.

The apron surprise was a success!

I'm really pleased with the results and I hope I have the fortitude to complete aprons for our entire family of gals, including one for myself!

Be sure to check out Calamity Kim's blog You'll be glad you made the visit.