My First Apron

Well I completed my embroidered bird and decided to turn it into an apron.  I have never made an apron before, so after studying some apron making videos on You Tube, I thought "what the heck, I can do this" and got busy making my first apron.  It's not perfect, and I made a ton of mistakes, but you live and you learn.

Lesson # 1 was that I really shouldn't try to make things out of my head lol.  I should have followed a pattern, but I decided to just wing it and make it up as I went along.  I think I do better when I have a pattern to follow though.

So here is the bird and the teacup, finished in all its glory.  I was going to use beads for the center of the flowers, but remembered I had bought some pretty colored sequins for a card project, so I decided to use them in the center instead.  I love the way the light catches the sequins, and it brings the embroidery to life.

Picking out the fabric and colors for the apron was easy.  I used a beautiful pink floral fabric by Cath Kidston for the main focus, and some green polka dot fabric for the co-ordinating edging.  I also decided to try my hand at using bias tape - another first for me, and I chose a bright green that went well with everything else I had chosen.

Adding the bias tape wasn't too difficult.  I think I might have needed to loosen up the bias tape a little as I rounded the corners of the apron, it felt a little tight.  I guess that will be Lesson # 2 for me..lol.  I am thinking about making some hot pads and finishing them with bias tape, so that will be a smaller projects for me to work on and I will get used to using the bias tape.

Lesson # 3 was a difficult one for me.  It had to do with the pocket.  When I embroidered the bird and teapot onto the fabric, I used a backing to give it more support.  When I wanted to turn the embroidered piece into a pocket on the apron, I didn't want you to be able to see the stitches on the inside of the pocket, so I gave it another backing so it would look nicely finished.  Well adding on the bias tape along the top wasn't bad, but attaching the pocket to the apron was a nightmare lol.  Because of all the thickness from the layers in the pocket and the bias tape, it was hard to turn in the seams and sew through them all.  I fussed with it a bunch, unpicked and cursed a lot, but finally managed to get it attached.  Lesson # 3 learned and duly noted - do not use so many layers hahaha.

Lesson # 4 is that I need to learn how to take professional photos when shooting photos of my work.  I wasn't quite sure how to photograph the apron so you can see it properly.  So here is the best shot of my apron that I could come up with for now.  

Overall I can't complain too much about my first attempt at an apron.  I know there are several mistakes and I have learned from them, and hope to put my knowledge to good use if I ever decide to make another apron lol.

I am already working on something new, which I will be sharing with you shortly.  So tune back in soon for more updates.  I will also have more info about my new Etsy shop I will be opening, where I will be making and selling handmade goods.  I will also be making some new christmas cards sometime in the near future so I will be adding those to my card shop.

Have a great week everyone - adios for now :-)

Stitching Kind of Morning

You know those kind of mornings when you wake up and all is peaceful and quiet with the world?  Before all the hectic noise of traffic leaving for work, the garbage man dumping the trashcans or the dogs in the neighborhood discovering they still have voices....those are the kinds of morning I just love.  Time to get up, slip something warm on my cold feet (Fall has arrived this week in sunny Southern California) and put on a pot of coffee.  I can sit quietly and concentrate on the sewing project at hand.

Well my passion right now is still embroidery so I have another hand-stitched project I am working on.  It's a little bird with a tea pot.

I am not sure what I plan to turn this into, but I am kind of leaning towards making it the focal point on an apron.  Or I could turn it into a placemat?  I've made so many cushions lately, that I feel I need to turn this into something else.  Anyone have any other brilliant suggestions for me on what I could make with it?  Leave me some comments, I would love to hear from you.  Here is a little preview of what I have completed on this project so far.  Not a whole lot, but it is coming together quite nicely.

Don't you love my pretty sewing tin in the background.  I had to have it when I saw it in Scotland.  I was in a quaint little coastal village called North Berwick, and there it was staring me in the face.  It came loaded with threads, scissors, needles, pins and more.  I have since taken all of that stuff out, and replaced it with my own sewing threads, scissors and needles that I am using on my hand sewing projects.  I love the old fashioned vintage look of the tin - it just makes me smile looking at it.

Well back to the normal boring stuff, like cleaning house and laundry - bah humbug!   I hope you all have a great day and I will be back soon with more sewing goodies to share :-)