A Passionate Love Affair

Since I went on an unintentional hiatus from my blog for a few months (er, years), I wanted to get back into some of the themes of the original intention of the blog...my first and oldest love (well, in the crafting world, anyway): sewing. And, although the time that an industrious homesteader has (that is, time when an adorable toddler isn't "requesting" the pleasure of my appearance...and immediate attention...vociferously) has to be split between "need to do" and "want to do", and the "want to do" list is always increasing...I still find time to sew.

And, maybe it's my new domestic role, or maybe it's a desire to use up some awesome fabric that just doesn't work for normal apparel, but, for the past year or so, I've been having a passionate love affair with aprons. I had to move my collection of apron patterns out of my normal pattern storage spot and into a file of their own. And, I have not one, but TWO pantry doors covered in handy dandy hooks to keep all of my aprons close at hand. I've probably made over a dozen aprons (some for myself, many others as gifts), but one of my favorite recent projects was a birthday gift that I made for Eric's sister, Kari.

I found this awesome bicycle fabric (with coordinating polka dots and stripes) at M&L Fabrics in Anaheim, CA.


I fell in LOVE with it, and it just screamed "KARI" (an amazing athlete, and cyclist in particular) at me. And, like so many of my favorite fabrics, it seemed perfectly suited for an apron (as much as I would love a polka-dot striped bicycle print dress, I'm afraid of what Clinton Kelly and Stacy London would say - or do - to me if I tried to strut my creation down the street).

I decided to use a new pattern, Jamie Christina's "Pretty Ditty Apron".


Things I LOVE about this pattern:
1. It's reversible!
2. It comes in multiple sizes, including toddler and girl sizes (I cannot WAIT until Elsa and I have matching aprons :) ).
3. It's a full apron without looking frumpy or smock-like.

Things that I did not love about this pattern:
1. I couldn't figure out how to place the ruffle along the bottom of the apron skirt so that it would show on both sides (in the pattern pictures, there is a ruffle peeking below the skirt when viewed from the reversed side; but, since the ruffle is only a single thickness, I thought it looked tacky to show the wrong side - with serged edges - of the ruffle).
2. The directions often have you leave edges raw. I HATE raw edges. I think they look sloppy and are just asking to unravel all your hard work. Since the apron is reversible, there are only raw edges on the ruffle and pockets, so if I make this again, I might make the pockets a double thickness, and not fold under the edges of the ruffle - letting it purposefully fray, which might look better from the reverse, too.

I made the apron in a pretty piecemeal fashion (it seems like I was constantly being called away to tend to more pressing matters), but it came together beautifully (if I do say so myself)!

And, one of these days, when I find the absolutely perfect material, maybe I'll make one for myself...because, you know, a girl can never have too many aprons.