Grandma's Apron

On the back of the door to Grandma's broom closet hung a beige apron -- maybe it had been pink at one time, but it had aged to a soft ecru. It had a bib, like overalls, and a round opening that went over her head, and two ties that met in a bow in the back. When Grandma put on her apron, good things were soon to be -- sugar cookies, cinnamon rolls, cream cake, chicken with homemade noodles, or jars of wild plum jelly and pear honey.  

As a young wife, I considered aprons "old fashioned" and wouldn't consider wearing one.  But, with age comes wisdom, and I finally wised up to Grandma's ways and I now have four aprons hanging in my broom closet - two were gifts, one I purchased and one I made myself.  I like them all, but I have never been able to find one - premade or a pattern -that matches the style Grandma wore.  

I ran across this reminiscence about "Grandma's Apron" and wanted to share it.  The author is listed as "unknown" but it is based on an original poem by TinaTrivett, which you can find here. 

Grandma's Apron

The principle use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few. It was easier to wash aprons than dresses and aprons used less fabric to make.  But Grandma's apron wasn't just for baking.

It served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.

It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.

When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids..

And when the weather was cold, Grandma wrapped it around her arms.

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.

Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.

From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.

In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.

When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folk knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.

Today's moms would go crazy trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron, but I never caught anything from Grandma's apron, but love.

Needlework Tuesday - Christmas Gifts

It's time to start sewing Christmas gifts!  Each year I like to pick a couple projects to make in bulk.  This year's choices are aprons and fabric bins/baskets.  

I have posted several pictures of the child-sized aprons I'm making.  This week I completed my first adult-sized.  Like the smaller versions, they are reversible.  It's hard to display an apron for a picture without a human form on which to hang it.  And since no other human forms were handy, an un-named resident of my house agreed to be my mannequin as long as I didn't show his face.

I also posted earlier about the quilted fabric basket I tried.  This version is larger (it's holding 3 apples and 2 pears in this shot, with lots of room to spare).  This is the mid-size pattern from Christina McKinney at Birch Fabrics.  This size required two coordinating fat quarters and some extra-stiff iron-on interfacing.  The larger size needs two cuts of fabric slightly larger than fat-quarter.  There is also a smaller version.  It required less than an hour to assemble.  My two notes to add to the excellent tutorial are: 1.  Be precise!  Even slightly varied cutting or seam allowances keep the lining from fitting snugly (as you can see in the pic.)  2.  I'm serious about STIFF interfacing to give the sides their strength.

These would be adorable on a bathroom counter for guest towels or makeup; in the kitchen for quick-grab snacks; in the craft room for fat quarters or any small items you need to corrale.  Since mine matches my kitchen, it will remain on the table to catch keys, notes, and the other miscellaneous things that get tossed there.

Needlework Tuesday is a regular feature hosted by Heather @ Books & Quilts.  Stop by to see what others are stitching this week.

Needlework Tuesday

I finally had a Saturday at home, so got to do a little sewing.  I whipped up two more child-size aprons.  The pink Snoopy print is the same size as the original pattern (age 2-5), with one minor change.  The neck strap was a little long for my 2-year-old test subject, so I added elastic so that the strap could be a bit shorter, but still go over her head.  The aprons close at the waste with Velcro so little cooks can do it themselves.  They are also reversible - the back side is made from the contrasting fabric on the straps and pockets.  The pink/blue print apron is a slightly larger version (age 6-8).    I hit the discount fabric bin and picked up a selection of girly prints to make more of these to sell.  I also purchased a pattern and fabric to make adult-size versions as Christmas gifts.  They are a quick and easy project.

Remember that throw-size quilt for the camper that I was going to finish in June as part of the UFO Challenge?  Is it the end of June yet?  It's finally finished!  Well, it still needs backing, ties and binding, but the top is finished.  It's a Disappearing 9-patch with no sashes between blocks. It's a good pattern for beginners because it looks way more complicated than it is, and there are very few seams that have to line up.  The challenge was that, since the blocks don't have an obvious up/down, I kept getting them rotated 90 degrees which then put like-fabrics together.  I ripped out and re-sewed the first few, but there are two that I didn't notice until I had attached the next row and it was too much ripping for a quilt that's supposed to look random and will only be used to cuddle up by a campfire.  Now if I can just get it completed before snow flies.

Needlework Tuesday is a weekly feature sponsored by Heather @ Books & Quilts.  Stop by and see what everyone is stitching.

Clothespin Apron Tutorial

A couple days ago, I posted about a clothespin apron I made from instructions I found on Pinterest.  I also intended to use the apron to earn a badge through Farm Girl Sisterhood.  However, when I read the badge requirements more thoroughly (I can hear my fifth grade teacher now "Read ALL of the instructions before you begin.") there was a 2-hour minimum time requirement.  Since I had just bragged about making that apron in less than 10 minutes, it obviously wasn't going to qualify.

My next plan was to make one from my own fabric rather than a pillowcase - and I had the perfect piece waiting in the closet.  (You know, one of those pieces you buy because you know you have to make SOMETHING from it, even if you have no idea what.)  The hitch was that I didn't have enough of the gorgeous black and red fabric, so I found some red fabric with white stars for the back of the apron and inside of the pocket.  

Again, my enthusiasm overwhelmed my preparation.  Once the body of the apron was assembled, I found I didn't have enough of the black OR red fabrics to make the ties.  Another dig through the fabric stash unearthed a second red fabric - this one with small red hearts.  The three fabrics worked beautifully together and I ended up with a "tool belt" style apron that I love.  

You can certainly do this in all one fabric but I'm going to share my method to make the apron with contrasting lining.  

1.  Cut two 20x14 rectangles - one from featured fabric, one from lining fabric.  (We'll call These F1 and L1)
Cut two 20x9 rectangles - one from featured fabric, one from lining fabric. (These are F2 and L2)

2.  Lay F1 and L2 together along the 20" edge - wrong sides together.  Stitch, open seam and press.  If either of your fabrics has a pattern with a definite top/bottom, check the next picture to be sure you have everything facing the right way.  
Do the same with F2 and L1.  You should now have two panels that look like this:

Notice lower half of left panel is upside down.
It will fold up to create the pocket and will then be right-side-up.

3.  Line up the panels, right sides together and sew around three sides, leaving the top open (the edge that will be the top of your apron). Turn right-side-out and press seams.  You should now have a basic pillow case (remember this was originally a pillowcase apron).  

4.  Lay the pillowcase out, the F1/L2 side facing up - the top of this side will be the main panel of your apron, so make sure the correct fabric is on top.  Fold the bottom (sewn) edge up along the seam line to create the pocket.  Pin and stitch sides three edges (sides and bottom).   Find center of pocket and stitch a vertical line from top to bottom - creating two pockets.

5.  Turn 1/2 " of top edge to the inside and press.You have now completed the body of your apron.  It just needs ties.  

6.  Cut two strips 3"x45" (or width of fabric).  Pin, right sides together along short end, stitch and press seam open - creating a strip 3"x90".  Fold in half length-wise and sew along long edge.  Turn right-side-out and press.  

7.  Pin tie along top edge of apron body, matching center seam of tie with center of apron.  Top stitch along top and bottom edges of tie, stitching body of apron closed at the same time.  Try the apron on and cut ties to the length you need.  Turn ends of tie to the inside, press and top stitch closed.

Press, fill with clothespins and head to the clothesline.