It's no secret that I make aprons. But lately I've grown tired of the same old design that I've been using. Truth be told, my sewing skills are rather intermediate and although I can follow a relatively straight forward pattern, I enjoy winging it and making my very own creation. Still, I would love to take some more classes on some advance techniques. There is something so soothing about the feel of fabric in my hands and the rhythm of the sewing machine. I intend to one day have an extra room where my machine can be kept out all the time instead of lugging it from the dining room closet. And my little stash of fabrics will be displayed and organized on open shelves. So it's no surprise that fabric, which is crammed in to dining room drawers, gets forgotten and neglected. Until this week. I had a little lightning flash of an idea to pull out the dozens of old linen napkins that once belonged to my grandmother and find a way to incorporate them in to an apron.
I love the result! For this project I selected some over sized white linen monogrammed napkins (2 to be exact) and sewed them together leaving a little "kick pleat" poking out at the bottom of the apron. The linen napkins serve as a lining underneath the gorgeous robin's egg blue fabric with birds, flowers and butterflies. I love this so much I almost wish it were a skirt. It has a fun flirty farm girl feel to it and the white cotton poking out from the bottom gives the apron a real sentimental feel. In addition, I decided not to sew the napkin lining all around. Instead I attached the top layer and the napkins at the waistband only giving it a nice smooth feel.
I'm so inspired that I'll be making another one later today with some bright lemon yellow fabric and more linen napkins with lace edging.
What did you do this week?
LOVE that apron - and I'm not an apron wearer! though I'm not officially signed up for 52 projects, I'll drop in my link this week because i went nutty with some paper, a stepstool and some mod podge!
ReplyDeleteJane: that's so cool it makes me want to wear an apron for the first time in my adult life. Or maybe ever. I wipe my hands on my pants; that's bad, right? It's so great that you gave new life to the family linens, and this way you'll get to pass them on again in their new, invigorated form.
ReplyDeleteHey, Aimee -- please stay. We could use the energy infusion. And Jane, sorry I'm late this week. I actually have a bit of a selection of things I could write about, but haven't been able to focus. I will.
PS: my word verification is "brights"
Hi Jane,
ReplyDeleteAfter a massively hectic few weeks, I am finally catching up with writing about my projects. This link is for weeks 35 and 36! Next up, 37 and 38!
Now to catch up on yours!!
Love and light
xx
Oh my, I am just loving that apron. Maybe I'll have to get brave and make an apron (why does that seem so daunting?). I'm so glad I clicked through here. So much inspiration.
ReplyDeleteThis week I was reminded of how simple it can be to just add a splash of color here and there. Mod podge plus a few drops of watercolor paint and some old jelly jars/mason jars from the recycle bin, and I had some pretty colored votives, or vases for wildflowers.