Tag: projects

More Aprons

So I’ve come to my senses (a bit) regarding the “new uniform” project, slated for this summer.  In my mind, I was going to have time (and money) to make dozens of aprons.  But I realize that isn’t going to happen and, if I’m lucky, I’ll get the two shirts, two dresses and perhaps ONE apron done.  But I found this great book and here are more awesome aprons, including my apron of choice.
 
I love the circle skirt aspect of this and the very awesome pockets.
 
Very cool side pocket.
 
Good high waist.
 
Excellent Handkerchief example.
 
This yoke is fabulous.
 
Good details here.
 
So cute!  Like a flirty 50s party dress, but an apron!
 
Good gathers and a cute pocket.
 
I love the movement here.
 
Good detailing.
 
This is cute, but I think would lead to massive hippage on me.
 
 
I like the full body cover of this one and the ruffle.  It’s also reversible.
 
 
 
Sort of your classic “diner waitress” look.
 
 
But this is the winner.  I love the yoke, I love the pockets, I love the criss-cross in the back and I love that it has no waist.  I’m not so into the waist right now, at least not mine.
 
Awesome apron, here I come.  Just as soon as I finish the reunion dress, two work shirts and two work dresses.
 

Aprons

Okay, there’s a new uniform plan afoot.  The following two pictures are of the Laurel, by Colette Patterns.  I have plans this summer to make two dresses and two tops, but with a cute “small ruffle” variation and no pockets on the dress, and this will comprise the core of my new uniform.  The dresses/shirts will be in the same material, most likely a neutral, and I will get some black pants to wear with the shirts and black leggings to wear with the dresses.  But the exciting part will be that I will also sew a fun apron to wear over the ensemble!

I already wear an apron at work.  Because there are not reliable pockets in womens’ clothing, early on I adopted the basic three-pocket waitress apron to hold my work walkie talkie, keys and a few pens.  But I’ve decided to break out of the boring three-pocket apron and make some very cool ones to go with my uniform.  So I’ve been doing apron research.  You can come along with me.

I love the cherries and the piping on this one.  I’m looking for a full-front apron.
 

Nice bias tape here.
 
This is beautiful.
 
I like the pinafore look here and the fun pockets.
 
Kind of minimalist.
 
Very schoolmarm.
 
This princess seaming is great.
 
Very bright!
 
Very mod!
 
I love the bottom of these, and the chevrons.
 
Another good princess-seamed bias tape candidate.
 
So 1930’s cute.  But would probably make my hips look very substantial.
 
Here are the two books these came from.
 

What are your favorites?

Baby Blanket

Here’s the baby blanket I made for my friend who is due soon.  I think it turned out fairly well, though my problem with variegated yarn is that I never really love how it meshes together.

The pattern is a baby blanket pattern I got off of the Internet years ago and I like it because it’s very hard to lose track of where you are, thus ensuring good results.

Though I didn’t love how the variegation worked out, this yarn was silky smooth and is machine washable, so I can recommend it.

Back is done. New material is bought.

My email update to my friend:

I hit a tragic point in my sewing.  Actually, cutting.   I decided the directions for what to do with the contrast fabric on the front were dumb, essentially they wanted me to fold it over at 5/8″ sew along that line and finish that edge.  But I thought the fabric wasn’t heavy enough and I would have to spend a lot of time ironing everything back into place and I hate to iron.  So I had the grand idea to just double those pattern pieces, fold them over and make a nice finishing stitch along the edge with that perfectly matched thread.  And my idea would have worked too, except I didn’t have enough fabric to double everything, a fact I realized after I had cut out one of each of four pieces, when I needed 2 of each of four pieces. 

So back to Fabric Depot I went yesterday.  And let me tell you, traffic is much worse on Friday at 2:00 than on Saturday at 10:30.  And guess what?  No more of the material in that color.  A nice lady who worked there took my sample and looked all over the place for it, but it was gone, gone, gone.  So I found another piece of material, but it wasn’t the perfect match the last piece had been.  Alas.

I’ve done the whole back of the dress and am quite excited as to how it turned out.  I didn’t work on it today because there was potato planting in the morning and then Pink Martini had a sing-along in Pioneer Square and I couldn’t rightly not go to that, now could I? And then I had to make food for Easter and for the staff meeting.  And I didn’t even get all the food made because I needed 1 cup of coffee for the cupcakes and by the time I realized that, all the coffee shops near me were closed.  So I will get up and make the cupcakes tomorrow.

It’s a good thing I don’t have yoga this next week.  I’m going to need the time to finish my dress.
Here’s the back.  I’ve cleverly pinned it to the muslin so it will hang and make me feel all accomplished.

 

Here’s the replacement material.  It’s shiner than the other material and not the perfect match the other material was, but it will do.
 

More sewing. And my sewing baskets.

Here’s an update I sent my friend at this point:
I’ve made all the adjustments to the pattern based on measurements and ease and what have you.  I’ve cut everything out in the muslin (well, half of it I cut out in an old sheet, because I didn’t have enough muslin) and sewn everything together.  Matt wasn’t around to sew me in, but I tried on what I had and discovered that, holy cats, it wasn’t as if I measured anything at all.  According to measurements I needed a 44/48/46 bust/waist/hips, but the whole torso is very tight, the waist is rather loose (although that might be in comparison to the bodice), and the hips seem a bit loose, though it’s hard to tell with the zipper seam not done.


So I’ve just retraced the bodice in 46, but I think I’ll bump it up to 48.  I need to move a bit more than that 44 was going to give me and the 46 isn’t that much bigger.

The sad tale of the whole matter is that I didn’t print the sleeve pattern when I printed everything else and it’s not available on the site anymore, for unknown reasons.  I did save it on the school computer, which meant going back down there yesterday, only to find my “new” monitor had died.  I replaced it with the one from the stand-up computer and printed out the sleeve pattern.  Did I then go that extra step and SEND MYSELF THE PDF FILE OF THE SLEEVE PATTERN?  No, I did not.  And now, needing to make a new sleeve pattern in a bigger size, can I simply dig the rest of the sleeve pattern out of the recycle bin and tape it all back together?  Well, I can, but it will be a more involved process since I so efficiently emptied my overflowing bins into the big bin.  Oy vey.

I’m glad I did make the muslin (and I’ll make another one in 48 before cutting into that fabric) because the directions are really awful and now that I’ve made the whole thing I have an idea of what they are trying to get across.  Don’t even get me started about the term “plackett” which is used often and refers to: the contrasting color in the bodice, in the skirt and also the waistband.  Those are six different pattern pieces, all of which are numbered.  Why they do not refer to the numbers is beyond me.  I also completely messed up one half of the collar, so I’ve got that out of my system.  And it’s been years since I set in a sleeve!  I prepped both of them, but realized that just putting in one would give me a good enough idea.
So, yeah.  At this point I’m happy I didn’t just start right in on the real fabric.  Here’s the too-tight bodice.

 

And we’re off again in muslin/old sheet land.
 
Also today, I cleaned out my sewing baskets.  I have two; one was my mothers, and one my grandmother’s.  This was a fishing tackle box, until my grandmother added the quilted lining for my mom.  It’s my usual sewing/mending basket.
 
In it I keep basic sewing supplies: pins, needles, basic thread, beeswax, measuring tape, marking items etc.
 
This sewing basket was one of the few things I asked for when my grandmother died.  It’s the one I drag out when I’m officially sewing something. It has a lot of sewing extras.  Here’s a look all the way to the bottom.  That tin on the right once held lip gloss, but now it holds all my bobbins.
 
It has a plastic divider that also holds things.
 
Isn’t it cheery and fun?
 
Here’s my favorite thing in the box.  My grandmother’s name was Helen.
 
Okay, muslin take two.
 
Better fit this time!