Hidden Treasures

I love aprons; I wear them all the time. Normally I wear a bib-style style apron that loops behind my neck and ties behind my waist.
I have made many of these over the years and have tried out different patterns for similar bib-style aprons.

I found this apron, pictured, in a box of my Mom's fabric this week, she brought it to me after she had cleaned out her sewing space last fall and I promised her that I would make good use of the long-collected fabrics. I had forgotten  about the apron, tucked neatly inside the box. This treasure is old, well-worn and made from flour sack fabric that is now as soft as a tissue; it is completely hand made, even the button holes.

My mother says it was made by her Aunt Lizzie. She remembers, as a small child, going to Aunt Lizzie's home and sitting on the horsehair sofa and looking at her family Bible. Aunt Lizzie was a skilled seamstress; my mother also remembers being served toast with mustard during these visits. 😝 Apparently, Aunt Lizzie's sewing talents didn't crossover into the kitchen.

It has a split-T back and buttons at the side waist. It is small. I can wear it but it would be much more comfortable if that strip at the back waist were lengthened and the buttons moved out just a bit.

I just love this style, there are no straps to slip and it provides good coverage, as any apron worth its weight in fabric should!  I can even see this being made adjustable, with two buttoning positions on each side, as needed. I am working on drafting a pattern from this beauty to see what I can come up with.  I might just have some strawberry print from which to try the pattern out. I could also make smaller versions for the granddaughters.

Stay tuned, we'll see how this goes first. In the meantime, this fragile but lovely apron from the past will be saved and admired; a testament to a tried-and-true style and some dedicated, yet delicate, hand stitching. 

Life is Good!

Where Am I Headed?

Back in December I joined a round-robin group at my LQS entitled "Head For The Border". This is a round-robin that never leaves the hands of the original quiltmaker, everyone works on their own creation the entire time. As a way of sparking creativity and building skills, the unknown for the next border "round" is revealed each month by the drawing of a color and a design element to be used from a brown paper bag. We don't know where we're headed... it's the journey that makes this experience so much fun.

In order to develop a sense of direction toward the destination it's important to not only know where you are but how you got there. I often find myself relying on the most basic skills that I learned in the very first quilmaking class I ever took, back in 1983. (Are you reading this, Ann?) Back then we cut templates from plastic and drew every seam line with pencil. I don't use mylar sheets anymore for templates but sometimes certain situations (unusual sizes) call for me to draft the shapes in EQ7 and print them onto freezer paper sheets. I cut them out (on the stitching line) and iron them to the backside of my fabric pieces; then lightly draw around those shapes with a fine mechanical pencil. The pieces won't shift (I use a sandpaper board beneath the fabric pieces to ensure stability while tracing) and then cut them out 1/4" beyond the drawn line. The freezer paper is reusable (over and over and over...). This is much more accurate than using rotary cutting directions to the 1/16th or 1/32nd of an inch. I'm happy to have a solid piecing foundation, basically anything that can be drafted can be stitched using this technique. Even with a closetful of specialty rulers and a die cutter it's always a good feeling to return to the basics.

Ready for tomorrow... my "Head For The Border" medallion work in progress. This now measures 23.5" square; I believe there are to be three more "rounds". The four "Winding Ways" blocks are where I began. Round #1 saw us adding the color black and the design element of rectangles; round #2: green and flying geese. I can't wait for tomorrow's reveal and to see what everyone else has come up with. As for me, I may not know exactly where I'm headed, but I am guided by good directions and am having an enjoyable time getting there. I believe I am going to name this one "The Long And Winding Road". Stay tuned for more clues along the way to the ultimate destination.

Life is Good!