My apron contribution to the Apron Sew-a-Long

my latest apron creation!

I've had many art room aprons, smocks, and lab jackets over the years, several of which were made by yours truly.  I was inspired by the amazing Cassie Stevens to make this one.  Cassie has a knack for getting us all sewing cute aprons and reading artsy books (and doing the associated homework) when we really should be cooking dinner, doing the laundry, feeding the cat, going to the gym, and cleaning the bathroom (well, those last two are really easy to ignore).  Anyhow, if you don't already know, Cassie started an Apron Sew-a-Long and even though I'm actually retired, I still can use this apron, which, by the way, is reversible.   Here's side #2. 

 Like I said, there have been many other aprons in past years. I seriously USE them!  My aprons wear their paint and glue like a badge of glory, until they get so nasty that they look like the refuse in a butcher shop.   I've posted about making a couple of them here and also here.  Then, there was the one with the adorable little aliens all over it - I mean, aliens with shopping carts and aliens with baby aliens in strollers, and so much more.  I don't have a pic of it, and it is long since gone, caked irreparably with layers of paint and what-not.  But I have a strong memory of a certain student - a large difficult autistic girl, who barely even acknowledged my existence otherwise, getting totally excited about my apron.  I mean, out-of-control excited.  She would come and poke at me in the boobage (that word is for you, Cassie) and other body parts, pointing out the alien puppy, and the alien kitty, and alien babies, screaming and shrieking  It was, um, a wee bit distracting.  I stopped wearing it when her class came to art. 

Below, Violetta, my duct tape dress dummy, is modeling side #2.  Don't you just love the 'yoga frog' appliques I have put on both sides of the apron?  I was excited by the fabric when I saw it, but it was rather insubatantial and I was afraid paint would go right through it if I used it for the apron, so it worked out great for appliques.   I had planned to use WonderUnder, like I did for this tunic, but the store now had a different brand.  I didn't like it.  It didn't hold as well, but at least it held enough for me to zigzag their edges onto the apron.  I found some crazy metallic thread for the appliques, but the thread was so problematic that I only used it on three appliques before I gave up and went back to regular black thread.

By the way, I did not use an official pattern.  I took a Sax apron that I got as a freebie at a vendor booth last year, traced it (I liked the shape of the top), made it longer, and extended the sides to go further around my not-insubstantial hips.  I cut out the apron shape in each of the two fabrics I had chosen.  I cut out pockets, based on the size of the Sax apron, and sewed them on.  The pockets are lined.  Below is my favorite yoga frog.  Now all I need is a mantra...

 I took a third fabric, and used it to make seam binding by cutting it on the bias and running it through this handy-dandy folding thing I've had for, like 20 years.  You iron the fabric as you pull it through, and voila! 

 Instant bias fold seam binding!  How cool is that?! 

I used the seam binding around the apron edges and for the ties.  It was really easy to put together.  Because the apron was being put together with the seam binding, I didn't even need to sew it together and turn it inside out.  I just put the pieces wrong sides together, basted them, and put on the binding.  Easy!  I think if I make an apron this way again (it's bound to happen sooner or later) the only change I'd make would be to make/use a wider binding for the trim and ties.  Though I suppose that means I need to search for another bias tape maker. 

Once I was done sewing the whole thing together, I decided to quickly finish up another project, since my machine was already threaded with black thread. 

 When I was in Santa Fe this summer for the Crizmac International Folk Art Extravaganza, one of our hands-on projects was making a quilt square.  I don't usually hand-sew at all, but I really dove into this thing and am super proud of it.  So I decided to stitch it to a piece of black fabric, which I am going to stretch over a board (showing a black fabric border of about 2" on each side) and then frame.

And that's when my Janey (my sewing machine) acted up.  Janey is a Janome brand machine, and I've had her 3 or 4 years.  I bought her when my 30 year old singer finally bit the dust.  She's small and lightweight, but very efficient.  Except she is electronic, and the electronics seem to have a mind of their own.  Usually, when she acts up, the problems are solved with turning off the machine and then on again (basically, rebooting).  Not his time.  What was she doing?  She, um, just kept on sewing, long after I had taken my foot off the gas.  If my car did that, I'd be running red lights and driving into the backs of other cars.  She just sewed right off the edge of the quilt square onto the black fabric and kept right on going.  I can't even blame it on the cat (who frequently likes to tug at the thread and stick her head dangerously in the machine while I'm sewing).  She was napping nearby.  I rebooted.  I fiddled with the 'start/stop' button that can be used in place of the foot pedal.  Nothing worked.  I swear, one time she even kept right on going after the machine was turned off!!  Every time I sewed, it happened again.   Sometimes, it was just a couple of stitches, but other times, it was a dozen or more.  In the end, I pulled out the extra stitches and called it done, and I guess perhaps it's time for Janey to have a service call.  Luckily the place to take her is only a couple of blocks away.  Anyhow, it's not framed yet, but here it is all sewed messily onto the black fabric.

DIY Disasters, & a new Art Apron

On the left is my new art apron, that I made this week. I wanted to make a new smock for the art room, since my old ones are getting pretty...uh...nasty. Just plain nasty. (Check out the turquoise one in the middle above. And this is AFTER it's been washed.) So I thought I'd make the cool apron I found on Pinterest, shown above on the right. It's made from a pair of jeans - the legs are the skirt part, and the seat is the bib. You'll notice MY apron doesn't look anything like that one, even though I started out following the instructions, using a pair of black jeans. Here's why:

First of all, my "tush" (my bottom) must be substantially wider than my top, because when I made the bib as instructed it was WAY too wide. So I took it in, and the pockets got cut in 1/2. This would have maybe been OK, but the seat of my pants had a bit of a curve to it (I guess to fit in my bottom) and wouldn't lie flat as the bib. So finally I gave up the bulging bib and bought a piece of fabric to replace it. I had to make other alterations as well, but in the end I think it's kind of cute, though not at all what I intended. The pockets came from an old barn jacket, and they are actually double pockets - there's the pocket I created by sewing them on, and there's a Velcro flap pocket on top of it, that had been on the jacket.

So then I decided to make some of the other DIY projects I've been saving on Pinterest, like the scarf and necklace below, made from strips cut from old t-shirts that are stretched to form rings. Aren't they cute? They seemed easy...

I can't show you mine. They are in the trash. I started cutting my t-shirts and stretching them to create rings, and let me tell you, not all t-shirt fabric will roll into the rings. And if you use a t-shirt that has side seams, the seams will come apart and you will not have rings. Anyhow, after cutting more than 1/2 dozen t-shirts and finding only 3 that worked OK, I started to make both items. The scarf was actually easy, but when done, it looked like....(drum roll please) SHREDDED T-SHIRT RAGS KNOTTED TOGETHER. Ugh. Hideous.

The necklace might have looked OK, but I gave up before I had an anxiety attack. All those narrow rings kept getting tangled together and no matter what I did, every time I picked it back up it was in a tangle again. BAD. It wasn't meant to happen.

There's another Pinterest project using T-shirt rings, making a round woven rug by warping the rings on a hula hoop. I was excited about this one, and I have a hula hoop, but after cutting up too many t-shirts already with zero success, I think I'll pass on this project for now.

Then there's this bowl, made from Perler beads:
I made one of these, and it actually came out really nice, though I don't think I have a photo of it. It wasn't hard, but it isn't something I can do with kids in school because it requires an oven, and anyhow could get pretty pricey getting enough beads for everyone. Anyhow, to make it, you need to coat the bowl you are using as a mold with veggie oil. It all worked great, but as many times as I've washed my bowl, every time I pick it up it still feels oily. Ick. And, what do I use this bowl FOR?

I still have a bunch of stuff to try out. I've already tested marbling with shaving cream (it actually works great so I'm hitting up the dollar store for more shaving cream) and I also tried a braided bead necklace that worked as well. So I'm not giving up on my Pinterest DIY projects, but I'm also going to be realistic and know when it is time to give up!

Global warming part 2 - a new art apron

After I took my morning walk, as the heat set in, I got to work in the cool house creating a new art apron. I used a couple of fabric remnants (sparkly denim for the apron, and another cool fabric for the pockets), an old Mexican woven belt (for the neck strap), another old fabric belt (for the waist tie), and a lonely purple shoelace (for some extra trimming). I also cut up an extra-large T-shirt with artists' quotes on it, that I received for free at a conference and never wore (because at barely 5' tall I'm decidedly un-XL).
Can't wait to mess it up when school starts!
When I asked my husband to come outside to shoot the photo of me in the apron, Isis bolted out the door. She is a HOUSE cat, but spends time outside for much of the day on a harness and rope tied to the porch ("dope on a rope"). Luckily for me, she's dopey enough that she flopped down and rolled, so I caught her before she got too far away. Too hot for chasing kitties.