Tag Archives: Sewing

on Friday, Julie and I got together and among other things, we sewed an apron! During the photo shoot, I’ve discovered that having an apron is absolutely invaluable to what I do – detail work. We had been using an Apron that Susie got at Squam, which was great, but it wasn’t quite specialized enough for what we needed.

So, Julie and I started out to make an apron. What follows is more like a photo essay of what  happened, as we learned a lot about what my final apron should be. It runs out, we made a proto-type or a muslin of the finished apron!

After jotting down some notes and designs on paper, we gathered our materials…

I cut out my pieces (the first and second time)

Julie overlock stitched a raw edge that would be turned into a bottom of a pocket because we had pre-pleated it and figured that she would have an easier time getting over the pleat bump.

After pining in place, I measured where the fold line should go and marked it using blue chalk so I could follow it while sewing since I couldn’t see the guidelines on the side of the foot. (Next time, measure how wide the foot is and use that as the seam allowance.

We might have taken a few cats in bags break. This one was well-timed since I had needed to rip out my stitches (which Julie did). The pleat action threw me off course on my measuring and therefore on my sewing. Things were lopsided and not in a charming way.

Second attempt, much nicer. This time, I just topstitched and didn’t bother sewing and turning. I ironed that sucker into place first!

It was during this that I realized that when I cut a new piece, I should adjusted in the wrong direction and so needed to make a new back piece.

I marked out where all of my sewing lines needed to be for the pockets, knowing that I would have to wash the final project. I figured having straight lines was worth it, since it was all contrast stitching.

Then it was onto the binding…

Getting a mitered corner just so was a little tricky, so we turned to youtube…

I turned the last bit of binding tape under before stitching it down. This was all going to be turned on the wrong side of the apron, so I didn’t kill myself to get it perfect.

Sometimes, you might miss the back of the bias tape and you might need to go over it again. And then again when you still miss it.

Then I stitched the twill tape down using the same color  thread instead of contrasting color.

I learned so much about what modifications I needed to make this apron work, it was invaluable to make this prototype. Next time, I’ll lower the pockets, widen the center pockets, make a trash bag that will live on the apron strings, make a fabric loop to attach a lint brush to, make the side pockets not as deep, and either wash the bias tape first, or not trust when it guarantees that it’s color fast.

I tried to get some modeled shots, but it just wasn’t working. I’m sure that Susie will get lots during the next photo shoo!