Two new tutorials - snacks and skirts

My kids are at school today! Honestly, I can't believe it, but that's how it goes EVERY YEAR! I like to make them new things to start the year and this year I made Harry a new snack bag with a paper airplane stitched on front.  If you are interested in reading about it and making one like it, head over to this new place I am writing a monthly blog post for - a site called The Bubble Blog. The blog has a number of different writers, writing about a number of different topics - food, crafts, parenting, finances, and organization.  This post should be up over there in the next week.  I just didn't want you to think I left Harry out when you see what I made Ava!

Ava wanted a full skirt made out of great fabric and that is what she got.  I blogged about it over on my other blog Improv Diary and there is a tutorial as well, so you can make one too. I had a simpler plan, but she had a vision and I figured I would try to figure out how to achieve it.  I might do things differently next time, but it worked out great and she looks great and she wore it today ONE HER FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

Happy almost autumn! xo

UPDATE: The tutorial is now live on the bubble blog! Do show me what you make!

perfect

Last week I was in California! Beautiful California.  I was there with Debra (my co-author pal) promoting Improv Sewing and I actually can't believe how busy our days were. A city of culinary delights-like tacos.  I could cry thinking that I did not have one, though I set out with the idea that I would have them for either lunch or dinner daily.  Do you understand?  I sort of became the woman I am in SF- fed by taquerias. I was so busy.  But! But, I did have a little time on the first morning, as I was waiting for the Larkspur ferry to take me across the bay to my sister who was going to drive me up to an event in Santa Rosa.  Am I boring you with too many details about the minutiae of travel?  Then look at what I indulged in before the ferry came.  Perfect eggs on a bed of creamy Bellweather farm goat cheese with delicate butter lettuce.  I also had a pot of Stumptown coffee that was as good as coffee at home (which is good). I had this at the most lovely place in the ferry building called Boullette's Larder, sitting at the communal table, talking to the most awesome waitress and looking out to the Bay Bridge.  It was the most expensive plate of eggs I have ever purchased, but I watched the egg farmer walk in with her eggs and they really were sort of a magical experience.  I think I must cook eggs more gently in the future.

wedding aprons

I was recently asked to create some aprons for the wedding of  my kid's PE teacher.  He is a special kind of fella and really quite a gifted educator- more environmental education than jumping jacks- and he and his gal needed them to wear while they were handing out pie to all of the guests as they arrived.  Love that!  He wanted some swooping swallows and hearts on the chest and a pocket for whatever one might need it for.  He also wanted a shawl with the same motif for his Granny.  All together, 6 aprons and the shawl.  I decided to use linen and keep them very raw and they really turned out lovely, if I do say so myself.

I thought I'd share how to make them so you can have one too.

What you'll need:
* an apron to copy
* a 1/2 yard of linen or other fabric of your choosing- anything will work
* another contrasting fabric- I used jersey cotton
* embroidery floss and needle
* contrasting thread for your machine
*an iron

Directions:

1) Fold the apron you will be tracing in half lengthwise and align the fold with your folded fabric. Use chalk to trace the shape of the apron and cut out.

2.  Using chalk or disappearing ink, draw or stencil your shapes to be reverse appliqued onto the desired spot.  I chose the breast of the apron.

 3. Cut a piece of fabric large enough to back the chalked shapes.  Pin to the back of the apron.

4. Thread an embroidery needle with a length of embroidery thread.  I like to work with an arms length or so to keep it manageable. Tie a knot at the end and pull a stitch from the back of the apron to the front.  Continue with a running stitch around the entire shape, ending with a knot to secure the thread on the backside of the apron.

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5. To create the reverse applique, use a sharp tipped pair of scissors (embroidery scissors are perfect), and carefully cut the top layer of fabric away, about 1/16" from the embroidery thread. Cut excess backing fabric off.

6. To finish the apron, I chose not to hem or tape the edges, but thought I'd leave the edges raw.  To minimize raveling (though I did want some), I sewed around the perimeter of the apron shape a few times, allowing my lines to meander a bit.

 I sewed about 6 lines across the top like this.

 7. Cut a 2" wide strip of linen fabric that is long enough to go around your neck and keep the apron top falling around the collar bones.  It should still be able to slip over your head without being too loose.  Next, fold the strip in half lengthwise and press with a hot iron. Sew a zig zag stitch along the open edges.

 8.  Pin the raw ends in place so the are on the front of the apron (again, show off those raw edges!).  Stitch a box with one or two diagonals for strength/

 9. The waist ties are also 2" wide strips.  Make them long enough to reach from your sides and tie in a bow.  This is really up to you and how much fabric you have.  Use your scraps if you can. I left the edges raw, of course, and zig zagged along the edges before attaching to the apron.

 10.  To attach ties, pin them in place where the bib panel meets the straight apron bottom.  This will be obvious.  Use zig zag or straight stitches- whichever you prefer (I changed it up on different aprons because I am like that) to attach the ties to the front of the apron.  Just be sure to backtack so they are nice and secure.

 11.  Want a pocket?  Yes, they are good to have. I forgot to write down my dimensions, but I rememebr them being about 7.5" x 11".  Again, do what you like.   Before pinning it in place, run some stitched lines or zig zags along the open edge of the pocket.  Or, even better, use a selvage edge that has a nice soft fuzzy fray that is won't ravel anymore.

Center the pocket in position, pin to secure, and zig zag along the raw edges to attach it to the apron front.  Next run a straight stitch (I used a strong double straight stretch stitch) 1/8" in from the zig zag.  That pocket isn't going anywhere.

 Look, there is my use of the selvage along the top of the pocket.  Isn't that nice?

ready to shoot

If I posted pictures today, it would be of a sink full of dirty dishes, a tractor covered in white clay dust, and a studio filled with 101 sewing projects in white tissue paper strewn in a semi-organized way across the floor.  I am in the throes of preparing for this book to be photographed.  I was also hired to style the book, thank goodness, so I am organizing outfits, surfaces, shoes, and props for the 10 days we have scheduled to shoot it.  It has been great fun throughout, despite the overwhelming qualities that are and always have been leaking out all over the place. And this part- the photo shoot- is, for me, the culminating event of the creative work.  I guess the real culminating event will be when I unwrap that first book, but that isn't until next spring, so I'd rather not think about it.  

Debra, my rockin' writin' co-author and I are thrilled with the design/art team- they are the women of our wish list for this stage.  Carolyn Ekhert, the art director behind the beauty of the magazine Wondertime (now defunct...sad) was hired a few weeks ago at Storey (yay!...not sad) and will be designing the book, and she was just as into our first choice of photographers- and managed to get her- Alexandra Grablewski.  It is going to be such a nice book! Pinch me! And then feed me and clean my house!