The Apron Saga - Part Deux

It is finished!

At least the apron part.  And with several hours to spare, I might add.  E2's birthday isn't until tomorrow, you know.

The apron saga has not actually been too bad, so far.  I'm pretty impressed with myself.

Once I conceded that I would just have to hand gather the ruffle, things were rolling right along.

The ruffles actually turned out pretty even, too.

The pockets, however?  They took minutes off my life.  Maybe even an hour.

What I thought was a fairly smooth and even rounded edge wasn't so much so.  At least once I turned the pockets right side out.

This stuff here is a life saver.  Snip off a piece of this tape-like stuff, iron it down, peel off the paper, stick the second piece of fabric to it, and poof!  A forever seal.

After spending agonizing, grueling minutes attempting to perfectly align the non-uniform pockets, I again deviated from the instructions  Shocking, I know.  I had the audacity to machine stitch the pockets right onto the front panel of the apron, instead of the baste stitch it calls for after the whole thing is put together.

Next, I had to mentally wrap my head around where the neck and waist ties would need to be on the finished product, so I could figure out where to place them on the unfinished product.  Got that?

Looks a bit interesting right now.

Then for the pretty pink lining.  We are getting close.

Pins.  Lots and lots of pins.  Except I put them on the wrong side, which made sewing just a leetle bit tricky.

Now it is time to snip!  But carefully, lest I undo my hard work.

It is important to make these little snips anywhere there is a rounded edge to be turned.  Otherwise it bunches and puckers and just looks messy.  And who wants a messy apron?  Hmm?

Square corners also need to be trimmed on a 45 degree angle.  This will ensure nice, sharp corners.  Once you use your seam ripper and paper boner to poke out the corners.  Try to avoid bleeding on your almost finished project.  It will make you cry.

Once it's folded right side out, time for a leetle trip to Mr. Iron, where we'll press under a hem.

Nice and even all over.  Ready to be stitched!

And - ta da!  A lovely little apron for my lovely little girl.

 Here we have the back of the ruffle, all nice and neat.

 And the, er, pockets.  Which, in hindsight, I sewed on backwards.  The cup handles probably should have been to the inside.  On the plus side, I did remember to do the little triangle stitch thingy in the corner.  This builds a stronger pocket. Something that will certainly come in handy when carrying around ponies.

 The bottom front of the ruffle is just a tad uneven.  This is what homemade is all about.  Or at least, this is what I tell myself.

But the neckline is nice and smooth.  Look at it, a snipped piece of perfect.  Say that three times fast.

And there we have it.  And now, off to wrap a couple of Lalaloopsy dollies and a Barbie shirt.  Heck, I've got a few hours to spare.  Why rush it?

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The Apron Saga - Part Deux

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Progress Thus Far...

If I were even the teensiest bit wise, I would have started this project back when I originally bought E2 this fabric.  As in, back before Christmas.

If I were even a little bit smarter than that, I wouldn't have undertaken this project to begin with.

But how does one say no to a little blonde haired, blue eyed angel who looks in awe at the sample hanging on the wall and then comes up with one liners like "I love to go to the fabric store with you mommy.  There are so many pretty things there.  Then you take some thread and make me beautiful things."  Seriously.  Here's hoping I grow more of a spine by the time she discovers electronics.

Or automobiles.

Or horses.  Let's not even go THERE.

And so we begin with this cute little number, and use it as a guide to cut a lining.

You can see why my pink-loving, Cupcake Wars watching little girl fell in love with this particular model.

Again, simple directions.  Remember who we're talking about here.

These pretty little strips of cloth will become waist and neck ties.

 Like this.  Don't worry, Real Sewers!  I will press them.  But after the hour or so it took me to turn these little puppies, my fingers needed a break.  And some Ibuprofen.

I've decided to step outside the instructions here and line the ruffle.  Oh my.  Here I go again, gittin' all
crazy 'n' stuff.

Note:  for those of you who actually sew, I realize I do not have my fabric sufficiently ironed.  Not even close.  I also realize that I am not sewing for a runway model and thus, am perfectly OK with that.

Pins, pins everywhere!  Only 1/2 a pint of blood loss this time.  Hooray for me!

See?  All nicely stitched, turned, and pressed.  Only thing I've used the seam ripper for is to pull out the corners.  Progress!

 After a couple of quick calls and e-mailed photos to my lifeline, I abandoned ship on getting Old Faithful to put a gathering thread in the ruffle and ended up doing it by hand.  Very minimal blood loss here.

Now see these little pieces (kindly ignore the groady, ironing board background, it's been with me a long, long time)?  They will become cupcakes.  Yah, right.

You take the bottom and force fit it to the sides to create the cupcake 'wrapper'.  Right now, looks like some kind of alien.  Or maybe one of those weird, middle of the store change tents at Old Navy.  The one where busy mothers with little ones constantly try to convince themselves is a better alternative to use than the 'real' change rooms.  And then they and their underwear get exposed to the world when their toddler starts playing peek-a-boo with the world.

Not that I have any first hand knowledge of this type of situation.

They kind of end up looking like this.  And as if there wasn't enough blood loss already...

I now need to make these circles fit onto these bases.  Upside down and inside out first.  Um, sure.

I'll keep you updated on my blood donation.

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Progress Thus Far...

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