Another Apron: Kaleidoscope

This apron is also from the book A is for Apron, but I have made many changes to it. Before you start you should check out the errata posted on the publisher’s website. You can find the complete pattern and instructions there for this apron. For me it still did not quite work out. So what did I change?

- The Apron is too wide if you use quilting fabric. I briefly considered having a seam in the middle, but decided instead to make the apron about 2 inches narrower.

- I “lined” the apron using the same fabric on the back

- Instead of traditional pin-tucks I used a narrow twin needle on the waistband

- The instructions about the hem did not make much sense to me, so I made up my own version

- The waistband did not match the apron even taking into account that I made my apron narrower, so my waistband ended up not being as wide as it was intended.

Again I had a lot of fun sewing this apron. It is nice when you can do some fancy work and not have to worry about it not fitting!

This is another birthday gift so I should mail it as soon as possible.

The Apron is Done

I finally managed to turn the small pile of pretty fabrics into an apron. I had a lot of fun sewing it. I have not sewn anything so elaborate in quite some time. The pattern is called Lorelei from the book A is for Apron.

For some reason the book does not offer real size patterns that you can cut out or trace, instead the patterns are printed onto the last pages of the book and it tells you how many times you have to re-size it using a large photo copier. In this case it was 400%. I chose the old fashioned method. Using a pencil and a ruler I drew a 1/4 inch grid onto the pattern. Then I took a tracing cloth that is printed with dots at 1 inch intervals and marked the corresponding dots on it. Every 1/4 inch in the book would be 1 inch in the life sized pattern. Admittedly it is a little bit tedious, but it would have taken quite some time to drive to a copy shop and it is expensive, too.

As an added bonus I found the tracing cloth great to work with because it sticks to the fabric, so cutting out the pattern pieces was very easy.

The fabrics I used are called Bubblegum Basics by Barbara Jones.  I made these changes to the pattern:

• I lined the apron with a white cotton to make it a bit sturdier

• I made my own bias binding

• I did not use rick-rack, but cut a strip of the red fabric, folded it in half and stitched over it with a blind hem stitch to give it some picots.

I really like the style and fit of the apron, but if I make it again I would turn the top of the bib into a curve. In the pattern it forms a point, which makes it stand away from your chest. All in all I am very happy with hit and I just found out this morning the recipient likes it, too.