Sunday Favorites Repost of : May You Be Inspired Days: Lilac Apron

Today I share with you a fabulous item. One I truly LOVE. I’m actually a little sad to part with it, in fact. And yes, I must part with it. You see, I am part of an online swap. This month, we were swapping aprons. Mine is for a wonderful apron-maker, Maria. You can check out her work in her Etsy shop Beautiful Blooms. Go look at her stuff and see if you think this is something she will appreciate. :) Best part is, it’s supposed to be a surprise for her, but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t read my blog…yet…so I feel pretty safe posting it here. So without further ado, here is my Lilac Apron:

 

It is a half apron with a patchwork base. I lined it completely in the lilac by Moda Bella Solids and then did a lined pocket in white duck cloth for the front pocket. That’s the lilac on the pocket, a Husqvarna pattern that I did in a mix of Mettler polysheen embroidery thread and Sulky embroidery threads. Then I also added a patchwork ruffle and a lilac ruffle, both with decorative stitching. Even the pocket has decorative stitching. I used variegated purples of Mettler as well as solid lilac Mettler Polysheen. I ADORE this apron. Thankfully, Maria is smaller than me, so it is a little bit small for my hips and short for my legs, or else I might just have to make her a new one.

As for my inspiration:

Red Pepper Quilts made two really cute ones for Mother’s Day. You simply MUST see her creative use of fabrics!

If you like aprons even SLIGHTLY, you simply must check out Tie One On. I have mad loves for Angry Chicken (the momma of Tie One On), too.

Want more ruffles? Here’s an idea from Mad Sewing Love.

And finally, I used a lot of this pattern from Moda Bake Shop, but I had the HATES for the detachable pocket, the way they do the ties/waist, and the absolute LACK of lining. The seamstress in me would NOT allow that many gnarly seams to walk out of my house. So mine has the lining, and even the patchwork ruffle is finished on the reverse (with French seams, no biggie). And I refuse to use a single fabric line for an item. Eh. To each their own!

And don't forget! I'm gonna give away one of the items from this month's inspirations (okay, obviously not today’s) on June 1st! All you have to do is:
1. Become a Follower of StressTheSeams
2. Comment on one of the posts this month telling me what you would love to win!
International readers will have to pay their own shipping, but American followers will get it for free!
I'll close entries at 1am eastern standard time on June 1st and use the fabulous random number generator to select one wonderful winner. The prize will be a surprise for the reader, but I might just be looking at what they say....hint, hint! :)
So go become a follower and comment! And there will be other ways to get extra entries as the month goes on, so don't miss a day!

And I’m so darn proud of this post, I’m linking it up to

 

 

Rabbits and Aprons

Whew. So this past weekend my brother was here with us before he flew out for Korea. He's in the service, so we tried to squeeze all the time with him out of the weekend we could. So I managed to finish my apron after he left on Monday. It is the Emmaline Apron from Sew Liberated. Here's some pictures of it.

It is reversible, which I LOVE!!! I used a green and black polka dot on one side that is a quilters cotton. The other side is a piece of white with black flowers for the bodice and a piece of white vinyl on the bottom that I snagged from Wal-Mart's remnant bin. It's washable, flows and hangs really nice, and is perfect for doing dishes and other messy tasks! You can find the pattern here http://www.sewliberated.com. Her patterns are well written and easy to make. I highly suggest them. I'm planning on making another apron soon, but modifying this pattern so that it has pockets, a top that doesn't have to tie, and maybe even not quite so wide in the bust. But that is for another day.

So when I finished that, I decided to get started on some spring surprises for the twins. I made them bunnies out of the most vile fabric in the world.... cuddle! But they are insanely cute and they went together really fast. Its just the clean up of the cuddle that will take forever. And the sneezing.....ugh!

Then yesterday, I got to stop at a new quilt store in our area. If you are in the Atlanta area, you should check it out. http://www.kiwiquilts.com They are super awesome. Tracy is wonderful and VERY helpful! And they have a lovely selection of the brightest and best fabrics out there. This is NOT the quilt store for the traditional quilter. This is definitely a place for the more open minded set! I'm planning on going to their piecing class this Saturday, if MetalMan will keep the twins!