All-Nighter

You know, you start sewing of an evening -- and before you know it, it's 7:00AM. Amazingly, I've been up most of the day and I'm not falling down just yet. However, I have started to yawn in earnest.

But enough about how sleepy I am. Who cares anyway? Look what I got done!

Babydoll saw this Liz Claiborne dress in a magazine and wanted a copy of it --

So we found some fabric at JoAnns that she liked better than the buffalo-checked gingham, and here's what we ended up with --

I used Butterick 5322 and used a leftover sequinned belt we had laying around.

While I was in Ohio on vacation last week, I had to make a stop at the Goodwill Store there. I always find treasures and it's nearly impossible to ever get it all back to NC in one trip. This time, I found several things for back to school for the girls -

• jeans that will need to be narrowed into skinny jeans
• a couple of skirts for me
• several tops
• a very cute denim jacket
• 4 juice glasses
• 3 coffee cups (we're always breaking and chipping them)
• 8 movies on VCR
• "The 4-Hour Work Week" in hardback
• a gorgeous glass cookie jar (I'll use it for pasta because it's tall)
• and these --

Bass classic khakis that were WAY too short -- but I didn't care, because I bought them to cut off to capri length! Rose has absconded with my favourite khaki capris so I needed a new pair. Ah, the consequences of teenage daughters! Last night I hemmed them up with a nice little vent at the outside.

Finally, I decided to throw an apron in just for fun -- I'd like to try to make one or two every week to stock my Etsy shop. I design as I go, which means this took up most of the night.

Very dated 1980's Monet-like printed drapery fabric
+ a Waverly valance I found at a garage sale =

Extra-long ties wrapped to the front,

or wrapped to the back.

Two pockets -- one with a rosette, one with a loop for a dishtowel or spoon --

(couldn't get a decent photo of the one with the rosette)

Scalloped hem --

At first, I thought I'd do a solid border on the hem. But then I did a rough sketch, and decided on the scallops.

They were easy: I just folded the apron in half, and kept doing that until I had the width for the scallops that I wanted. I counted the folds, and I had 8.

Then I cut 16 pieces that same width, and rounded the bottoms using a nearby CD-ROM.

I sewed each one right sides together, and flipped them inside out, leaving the top edge open.

Then I laid them out along the hem of the apron, and when I had what I wanted, I pinned them on and stitched them down.

There was nothing on TV, so I sat with my laptop and played YouTube clips. Trudy from HotPatterns would have been proud -- it was the all-Trudy channel, all night! LOL!

Actually, that was useful because it inspired the rosette on one of the pockets. I tried a spiderweb rosette, but it really didn't work with the woven fabric. So I just took a long strip, gathered the edge, and coiled it around, hand sewing it down as I went.

For the other pocket, I had some leftover bias trim from the valance, so I made the little loop for a dishtowel. I covered the top with an old button, then glued another button on top of that.

When I cut this apron, I extended the top a bit and rounded it off so it would fit a little above the waist. And I made the ties extra long to accomodate every waist. I like it. I think it's a fresh look to an old 80's fabric. What do you think?

Going to sleep now -- starting to zone out!

xoxox