Pleated Apron

Midget's school is hosting a basket raffle - 2nd graders are doing a baking theme.  Rather than buying a spatula or something, I decided to make an apron for the basket.

I managed to cram in a few firsts with this project:  Pin tucks, bar-tacking, and hemming.

The fabric is from Joanne's Fabrics.

This is the finished apron.  Oddly enough, I couldn't get either guy in my house to put it on and let me take a picture.  So, I tried to demonstrate how well it hangs on the side of my ironing table.

The "inside" of the pleats are the black fabric - I know this looks really, really weird, but it was the easiest way to see how they look together.

I've never done pin-tucks before, and so I'm not sure they are as small as they should be. I would estimate they are roughly 1/8th inch, but I couldn't tell you for sure (that would require me to get up and measure, and I'm quite warm and toasty in bed). 

This is the back of the apron.  I think the part I like about quilts the most is that no one sees the seams on the back - in clothing (and aprons) you see the whole shebang.  I am thankful that the seams allowances are hidden within the pleats (although I did overcast).

I got the pattern from here and followed it pretty closely.  I did the waistband a little differently, however.  Instead of folding seams and sewing, I cut (2) 5" x WOF strips, split one in half, and centered the long one between the short ones (like she suggests).  However, this is were I veer off course.  I sewed the short ends together, pressed the seams, and then folded it in half and sewed it with a 1/4" seam so that it was a giant tube.  I turned it right-side out, ironed, and then centered it over the skirt part.  I ripped out the seam about 1" past the edge of the skirt on either side.

I measured 1" down from the top of the skirt at each end and at each pleat intersection and put a pin in horizontally.  I lined the top of the waistband up with the horizontal pins, pinned like crazy, and then stitched like she says to in the directions.

I'm not a huge fan of pre-pressing seams, and apparently that is a huge part of clothes-making.  I think the tube/seam-rip method went faster than burning the tips off my fingers and removed the potential error for measuring the seam allowance incorrectly.  As for the bottom and side hems?  They are clearly imperfect, but I tried.  I wasn't willing to sacrifice having fingerprints to make them perfect (this time). 

Out of the entire thing, what was the most important lesson?  Someone needs to start manufacturing 1/8" feet for pin-tucking.  I would run into a burning building for my 1/4" foot, and I can see the same potential dedication for an 1/8" foot.

And while this has NOTHING to do with the apron, I have spent the better part of today playing part of the Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part I soundtrack over and over to the point Midget said, "Will you just stop playing that song, please?!  You're driving me nuts!"  Ha.  Payback is a bitch, little boy.

You can listen (and watch) here:  A Thousand Years

"I have died every day waiting for you..." A Thousand Years by Christina Perri

EOD Wounded Warrior Quilt 2011

About a month ago, I was approached to create a quilt for for an injured EOD tech.  With the help of another EOD wife, we were able to create him an Americana-themed Rail Fence quilt with some really cool personalization. 

First, I put the embroidery machine to use and made a Master Crab

We chose a red stars / blue stars block design.

One of the coolest parts of the quilt was a picture of the team that was dyed into 100% Kona cotton.  The company, The T-Shirt Diner, was able to do it in about a half-hour and for about half of what I'd expected, cost-wise. 

This was the first half completed.  I love how the seams give the top a stained-glass appearance with the sun coming through the doors.

After close to an 8-hour sewing day, I had to walk away for the night.

The quilting was completed over a weekend by a local Great Falls, MT quilter - Denise Shortridge. She did an all-over, medium-sized meander.  The quilt was bound in the lighter blue star fabric.

I feel like the crab in the middle of the border/divider looks almost like a rodeo belt. 

While I was waiting for the quilt to finish it's wash/dry cycle, I made a wheelchair bag for some mobile storage.  The interior is black.

I want to make a HUGE THANK YOU to Ship-It of Great Falls, MT.  They heard who the quilt was going to and cancelled ALL the costs associated with packaging and shipping to help get the quilt to it's new owner as quickly as possible.

If you are local to Great Falls, I want to personally ask you to consider using Ship-It to show your appreciation and thanks for their help by giving them your business.  

Their address is:

Ship-It

825 5th Ave S 

(Intersection of 5th Ave S & 9th S on the NW corner)

406-727-7157