Up to Eleven and Counting......

This morning I did something for "reallies", as April used to say when she was little. Walter was the real person that I did it for.

He and his buddies are going to Albuquerque to play golf. To make a long story short, he and a friend have the exact same golf bag. He requested that I make something to differentiate his from the other one. So...I made him a Charlie Brown wrap around thingy for the strap on his bag. I simply cut it to a rectangle that would wrap around the strap and overlap in the back. I reinforced it with iron on interfacing. Then added Velcro to the back so that it can be taken off to wash, if need be.

Why am I telling you this? Tessie came in, wearing her apron of the day. Yes. That's what she's calling them now.....I am hoping that she will forget that she has worn them before and not ask for more. She wanted a Snoopy apron from the leftovers.

We are up to eleven now. She found two more in the sewing basket that need fixing. I fear that there may not be an end in sight.

The one that she is wearing today has fringe on the bottom of the skirt and around the shoulder straps.....I cheated. The fringe was on the edge of the fabric instead of a regular solid selvage. Hey! Whatever's easiest is my motto. No gluing on the hem or the straps on one side.

Anyway, she found the spider apron and insisted that it be fixed. I think that the Christmas apron may have to be re done altogether.

I promise not to bore you with aprons anymore, for a while, after today, but I did decide that the ruffles on yesterday's apron needed explaining...

I cut two strips that were twice the length of the shoulder straps. Then I tapered about a quarter of the length on each end toward s the center. THen I edged the curve with a thin line of white glue.

I gathered the fabric along the straight edge of the strip, starting and ending about 1/2" from the end. After that, I glued the ends to the underside of the shoulder straps and pulled the gathering thread to make the ruffle the same length as the shoulder strap. I glued the center portion to the strap also. On the right you can see the inside of the strap. On the left, the outside. You could sew all of this together, but it is much easier to glue.

OK. That's it for the aprons. Tessie thinks that a new apron every day is a good idea....Who told her about options of time longer than a week??? HELP!!!!

See you tomorrow.

It Needs Adjusting......

Yesterday, when I went to Wednesday Witches, Tessie went along. I needed something portable to take along to work on. She immediately told me that she would volunteer to ride along in her sewing box and "let" me make her another apron.

She has seen an apron in my fabric stash that I got from my grandma, via my mom. I think it is from the 30s or thereabouts. It is one piece and made of muslin. Whoever thought up this pattern had a twisted mind...Literally.

I am passing on the pattern that I made for it. This is only the first time I have made it. I think it could stand a few adjustments(according to Tessie). The shoulders are too wide and the neckline in front is a bit high.

I like the idea and will experiment with it some more until Tessie is happy with it. After all, she is the one that has to be comfortable in it.

As usual, I drew it on 1/4" graph paper, so if you want to mess with the pattern, enlarge it accordingly. The pocket is not necessary. I just cut out a general pocket shape and turned under the edges with glue.

The only sewing I did was the two darts under either arm. All of the edges were turned under with Fast Grab Glue and then the trim was also added with that.


Anyway, for a first draft, I don't think it looks too bad. I am going to try it again. I think that Tessie is going to earn the nick name "Apron Queen" if she keeps enlarging her wardrobe of them.

The cute thing about this pattern is the "twisted" part. the straps cross in back and fasten to the opposite shoulder.

The antique one that I have actually has seams at the shoulder and you slip the whole thing over your head arms stick your arms through the sides.

As I said, it's a work in progress. I thought that you would like to have the pattern to play with.

If you try it for your mini people, you may have to make some adjustments to fit whatever person you make it for.

Tessie enjoyed Witches and went around the table showing everybody her new apron. I hope that she doesn't figure out that is where I go every Wednesday. She may want to go along......I have to get away all by myself once in a while.

Today I have been back in the workroom, digging out, again. I keep telling you that I am making progress. Then I go back and look at it. I wonder where the progress is??? I think that the house gremlins (and Tessie) run in there as soon as I leave the premises and fling everything against the walls. Yup. That must be it. Workroom wrecking gremlins....

See you tomorrow.

A Deal Is a Deal......

This morning I had to do major surgery on Tessie. She is fine now. her old bones were getting very weak and her right shoulder just plain wore out! She could no longer lift her right arm.

We had a long talk and she agreed to a short nap whilst I took care of everything. I won't go into painful details other than to say that she has a whole new skeleton and lots of new muscles. She is already healed and has her vim, vigor and argumentative nature restored once more.

As soon as she was back from the nap, she started in. "I'm sick to death of this pink apron! I'm not putting it back on! I need something new to wear!"

I told her that I would make her a deal....If she would help me clean out the Clockwork Cottage so that it was workable again, I would make her a new one with material of her choosing.

I don't think that she has had a look at the cottage lately..... She agreed.

She said that, since I had been working on all kinds of quilt things, she thought that a patchwork apron would be appropriate.

She is standing in front of a photo from that darned Luxe magazine.

I have a feeling that thing is going to be all kinds of trouble. She likes this kitchen and wants one like it in one of her new houses......Yup. She read the blog the other day when I said that I had a Harrison kit under the bed....She went and looked at it. Now she can't decide which one of the kits she likes better. She is under the delusion that she has a choice! She seems to think that a new house is a foregone conclusion. Anyway, that's the apron.

Most of the apron is glued together. I hemmed the bottom and two short sides of a piece of fabric about the size of an index card with glue. Then I simply folded back hems on three sides of the bib part to fit her chest. I cut a waistband from some matching red and some shoulder straps from the same material. I turned in the long edges of the waistband with glue and folded the straps in half the long way. The straps, I trimmed with scissors to neaten them.

The only sewing was running a gathering stitch along the top edge of the apron. Then I glued one edge of the waistband to the skirt of the apron and put the bib on the opposite side centering it. I put a dot of glue on the waist band and wrapped it around her. Then I did the same with the ends of the straps. There is enough glue on them to keep them on, but not enough that they can't be easily pulled off. There you have it. Instant apron. Almost.

She is trying for lots of brownie points. Look at the cottage now!

She even got Zar to help. I heard her tell him that if he didn't want to be a toad, he would help big time! It seemed to work.

Besides, I think that Zar wants his cottage finished.

We won't talk about the fact that Tessie can't wait for me to finish it so that I can get to her new house. It is inevitable. I am keeping my fingers crossed that she will settle for the Magnolia......I fear that she will and then about half way through the build she will change her mind and want to add the Harrison on to one end!

Please don't let her see this. I plan to put parental controls on the blog immediately following this entry.

See you tomorrow!