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
