Aprons Made From Dresses

I have a friend who is a farmer with a small farm.  She brought me two old denim jumpers and asked me to convert them into aprons for her.  They are long enough to keep all of her clothes clean and stain free.

All I did was cut about half an inch on either side of the seam all the way to the top.

No, I did not measure it, it was all free hand.  After all it is just a work apron!

I then folded the edges twice using the width of my finger as a guide.
I folded the ribbon into the seam at the top and at the waist.  I love this thick bright yellow ribbon!

The first one had two pockets already, so it did not need a pocket.  I made a big pocket on the second one using leftover denim material, but I did not think it was deep enough so I grabbed some material and made it deeper.

I added a small pocket for her cell phone.  White probably was not a good idea for the farm!  LOL

I used the same white material for the tie on the back.

Oreo was inspecting it to make sure it was okay!
 I accidently cut this wrong by following the wrong seam, so the back does not cover as much!

I hope she enjoys them!

I have a black thumb and in the spring wanted to plant rose bushes I bought at Wal-Mart.  I thought they had died, but I have my first bloom!

Here is my rose on Monday.  This rose bush is orange and yellow.

Here is the same rose the next day!  I love how it turned orange!  The second bush is just yellow.

My porch is a mess right now because I had to cover and move all my porch furniture because of the storms.

What do you recommend to put on the roses to keep bugs from eating them?  A couple of the leaves look half dead too.  The only thing I do not kill is ivy, so any help would be appreciated.  My grandmothers always had beautiful roses and I want to follow in their footsteps!

Thank you!

Missy

Aprons

I have a lot of aprons to show you today!  I participated in an apron swap over at Katherine's Corner.  She is having a linky party on Friday (12/14/12) to show off all our aprons, so if you like aprons be sure to stop by!
Here is the apron Katherine sent me:

 
It is perfect for me with all of the cupcakes!  And I love the pink bows!
Here is the apron I sent to Marie, my swap partner.  It is one of my favorites I have made with the gingham ruffles! (I had to put a t-shirt on the mannequin! LOL)

I really enjoy apron swaps, although this is only the second one I have participated in.
I thought I would share some aprons I made for Christmas presents also.  My sister said she wanted a ladybug apron for Christmas.  Wow, that's easy for me to do!  I was going to make my niece a matching apron, but when I was digging through my fabric I found this one that was pre-printed on the fabric and I had already cut it out.  I had the polka dots already out for my sister's apron and thought it would make a perfect ruffle on Johnna's apron, so I added it, and am very glad I did!

It says "more sprinkles please".  I also made two aprons for her Barbie dolls.

They were so easy to make, took me 10-15 minutes for both!  I just cut it out with my pinking shears, ironed it under and sewed it down.  I guessed at the shape and size by holding it up to the Barbie doll, then used ribbon for the ties.  My husband took the picture for me and did not get a very good picture of the yellow one, but it is the same as the green one, just a different fabric.
 I wanted to make her some Barbie Doll clothes, but did not have time, my friend Chrystal had some she had made, so I bought them from her.

For my sister's apron I bought all the ladybug fabrics I could find.  Do you think there is enough ladybugs for her?  She also likes butterflies, so the top one is perfect!

The dark green does not match well, oh well.  Can you believe that I could not find the pattern I was going to use?  I pulled it out last week, and it has totally disappeared!  I bet I find it mixed in with some fabric some where.  I cut the dark green fabric 19 inches long and all three layers 36 inches wide.  The next layer was about four inches shorter and the next about three inches shorter.  I was not exact on the lengths as you can tell.
I made the top and the pocket the same way.  The top is a ten inch square, I didn't measure the pocket.  I cut two pieces of each and sewed them right sides together, and then turned them right side out.

I then lined the tops with the black polka dots.

I sewed the pocket onto the yellow fabric about an inch up from the hem.
I gathered all three layers of the bottom at the same time, that was not easy!  I then made a waistband and sewed the "skirt" in between the folded layers.

I added the ties to each end of the waistband, I did it this way so I would not have a seam in the middle of the waistband.

I sewed all the way across the bottom of the ties and waistband.  I pinned the the top to the waistband and sewed across the top of the waistband and ties.  I then sewed the neck on. I had cut all the ties and waistband three inches.  Here is how I made my ties.

I felt like it needed something at the bottom, I had a small strip left, so i made a fabric flower and added a daisy which matches the yellow fabric.  Go here for directions on how to make the flower.

I really should have put the flower on the other side from the pocket.  I was in a hurry trying to get these gifts done to send off today!
If you have any questions, just ask, I know this was not a very detailed tutorial.  Be sure to check out my apron pin board!
What homemade gifts are you making this year?
Have a merry Christmas!
Missy

ruffled apron tute

I found a really great ruffly apron tutorial that I thought I would share
http://sugarbabyboutique.blogspot.com/2011/06/ruffly-apron.html

It is really cute!

Here is one that is called fabric lovers apron

http://maureencracknellhandmade.blogspot.com/2011/06/fabric-lovers-apron-tutorial.html

Free Apron Pattern

One of the new blogs I follow has a free pattern for a very cute apron.  The top part of the apron is gathered on the top and bottom, producing a very cute effect.
Be sure to go here for the free pattern:   http://artgalleryfabrics.typepad.com/weblog/2011/02/time_to_spice_it_up.html#tpe-action-posted-6a00e553bbe52e88340147e24d2124970b
I printed mine out and cannot wait to make one!
Happy Sewing!
Missy

Vintage Va-voom sew along

I came across a great vintage apron sew along for a vintage pattern at vintage vavoom.  She  did a three day sew-along where she teaches you to follow a pattern, cut out the material then put it all together.  I have not had a chance to stop and read everything yet, so I wanted to share it with y'all so I can find it again next week when I do have time.  Be sure to check it out, she tells you what pattern you need and everything!
1.  http://vavoomvintage.blogspot.com/2010/07/tutorial-im-gonna-teach-you-to-sew.html
2. http://vavoomvintage.blogspot.com/2010/08/apron-sew-long-day-one-cutting.html
3. http://vavoomvintage.blogspot.com/2010/08/vintage-apron-sew-long-day-2-sewing.html
4. http://vavoomvintage.blogspot.com/2010/08/vintage-apron-sew-long-day-2-sewing_14.html
5. http://vavoomvintage.blogspot.com/2010/08/vintage-apron-sew-long-day-3-finishing.html

She even has a video showing how to do a slip stitch, so be sure to check her out!  I have a similar pattern to do, so I will need to read this first!
Happy Sewing!
Missy

Disclaimer: I do not necessarily agree with everything on her site, but she has some great sewing helps.

How To Make A Fabric Flower

I have fallen in love with fabric flowers!  They are so fun to make, I'm still new at it, but I want to share what I have learned so far!  These I made by folding the fabric over.

These I made with just one layer of fabric for a frayed look.

I am going to teach you how to make the one with the folded fabric, although the concept is the same for both.

I cut two small strips for my two smaller flowers out of the blue, then I wanted a double blue and white flower for the top, so I cut the white strip, which was my bottom layer, bigger then my blue strip which was my top layer.  I then folded the flowers over and ironed them down.

I then took my two ends of a folded strip and sewed it together on the machine (It can be done by hand if you don't have a machine).  I was not doing this at first, but it provides a cleaner finish if they are sewn together first.  You then take your sewing needle and stitch around the entire length very closely together (see pictures) and it naturally makes a circle.

Then you sew the middle sides together to close up the hole.  You want to make sure you don't have any holes gaping open under your button, it is supposed to look like a flower after all.  You are almost done!

If you are making two layers of your flower, place them on top of each other.  Then sew on your button.  If your thread was long enough, you will still be using the same needle and thread through the whole process.  Put your thread through the button a few times. 

Then with the thread still attached, position your flower where you want to sew it on your fabric and sew it through the button a few times to make sure it won't come off.




 
 

I then tack the flower on around the circumference to make sure the flower doesn't "crinkle up" in the wash.  Notice my edge where I sewed the two sides together?  That was done by hand and looks sloppy which is why I started doing it by machine first.  That's it!  You're done!  A great finish to any apron or project you are working on!  Flowers are also great for hiding any mistakes you make!  I'm still new at this, so if you have any suggestions, fell free to let me know!
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

How to Make a Ruffle

What do you do with an old pair of jeans and a piece of a sheet?  Make an apron of course!  A friend of mine cut up a pair of her son's jeans into pieces, she was going to make pillows but gave them to me instead!  I had a piece of a gorgeous embroidered sheet that was given to me in a bag of scrap material.  I love scraps!

I used all the material I had for this project, it was just enough.  Isn't this pink material beautiful?  I'm just guessing that it was a sheet, it is pretty stiff though, so I could be wrong.  First I cut a wide strip off the top that I will use for my tie and waist band.  Then I measured my material to go go around about twice on my denim for the ruffle, then cut it with enough left over to make two pockets.  This is not exact!

I took my pieces to my homemaking fellowship at church to work on.  I trimmed up my denim some, notice the curve?  I did not do that on purpose, but left it and used it as the top of my apron.  I hemmed the very bottom only, I liked the frayed look on the edges, so I zig zagged along the sides with my pink thread to keep it from fraying more.  After sewing on my ruffle and tie, I sewed down the side of the apron through the tie and ruffle for reinforcements.

Not everybody sews at the Homemaking Fellowship, here is Susan knitting, and Tabitha is crocheting a blanket for her dad.  "She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.  She maketh herself coverings of tapestry;...She maketh fine linen, and selleth it..."   Proverbs 31:19, 22, 24

I chased that "rabbit" long enough!  Now I'm going to teach you how I made the ruffle.  I used the flowers as my guide because I wanted to make sure they all showed.  I only ironed down the top once, because otherwise I would have covered up the first row of flowers, so I cheated.  I then doubled over the bottom part and ironed it for the hem, then did the same for the sides.  Some people skip this step thinking it takes too much time, I disagree.  It makes your project look cleaner and crisper and instead of using pins, I just iron it, which works with most projects.

I set my sewing machine on the highest or longest stitch setting (I'm not sure what the correct term is).  In my case it is a four.  I then sewed along the bottom of my top fold.  This is where I will be gathering my stitch for the ruffle, so you want a big hem. You can do two of these stitches right on top of each other in case your string breaks.   (I didn't know this until afterwards - whoops!)  This gave me long, loose stitches.

After you sew on your gathering stitch (Which can also be done by hand).  I very gently (you don't want your string to break) grabbed my bobbin string (the string on the bottom) and started pulling gently.  Use your fingers to move the gathers along to the middle of the ruffle.  I pulled from both ends to keep from putting too much strain on the thread.  If your thread does break, you have your back up stitch.  Do not cut your threads when you are done.  I did, and you can see in the last picture my gather had come undone some, I didn't have a back up stitch so I used my fingers to fake it on the denim with straight pins.

I then laid my ruffle on my denim and tried to make it as straight as possible without messing up my gathers.  I started pinning the ruffle on the denim making sure my gathers were even as I went.

I then made sure I had turned my stitch guide back to 3and slowly stitched along the ruffle.  You have to be careful and make sure the gathers are laying the way you want as you sew.  Don't forget to remove your pins before you sew over them.  They break my needles.

For the pockets, I cut two squares the same size.   I ironed a hem with just one turn on three sides and on the top, where my flowers were, I  folded it under twice.  I ironed it all down then I sewed the top of the pocket.  I put the pockets where I wanted them on the denim.  First I folded the denim in half with the pockets in between to make sure the pockets were placed evenly apart.  I then took a ruler and measured to make sure they were an even distance from the top.  I pinned them into place and held the apron up to a mirror to make sure I liked the placement.  I then sewed the sides and bottom.  Be sure to reinforce your stitches at the top to make sure your pockets do not come apart.

I then folded my apron in half and made sure the sides were even.  I had to cut a little off of one side.  I found the middle of my tie and matched it up with the middle of my apron.  (I forgot to take any more pictures of the rest of the apron, though)  I put the material in the middle of the tie and sewed the tie onto the denim.  

Voila - You have an apron made out of old jeans and a sheet!

You can also make the ruffle smaller!  This is my first ever ruffle - yeah!  The pink one is my second!  LOL  I love ruffles!  If you have any tips on ruffles, please share!
Go check out this page http://keepsakesbymelissa.blogspot.com/2010/07/want-piece-of-cake-blogaversary.html  for a chance to win a cricut cake machine!


Happy sewing!
Missy