Posts Tagged ‘sewing’

Whenever I hear the phrase "spare room" I think of Anne of Green Gables and the night when Anne and Diana frightened the elderly aunt by leaping on the bed in the spare room!

We are in the process of decorating our spare room. We moved into this house nearly five years ago. The house was previously owned by a single lady who married a widower and moved into his home. The house was immaculate--not a speck of dust anywhere. We have slowly been painting and changing things to reflect our tastes since we have moved in.

A few months ago we bought a bed frame and mattress, Rob painted the room a nice shade of green, and I bought a quilt and pillow shams. Here's a picture showing the wall color and the quilt:

The project has been on hold for a while so I could figure out what to do about a window treatment. I finally decided to copy one that DD Nora had made earlier for our bathroom. Here's the valence Nora made:

I chose fabrics that were similar to those in the quilt and made this little valance:

We still need a few accessories and a dresser, but the room is slowly taking shape and will be ready for some visitors we are expecting in the next few weeks. We hope to have a comfortable place ready for them when they arrive.

Do you have any decorating projects going on this spring?

Becka

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Several weeks ago I wrote a post about a new book I had received for Christmas. Last night I finished up the first of several aprons I hope to make from the book, A is for Apron. During Christmas vacation my daughters and I went out to Hobby Lobby (where the book was purchased) and while we were there Megan chose some fabric for an apron. Since then Nora has purchased some fabric and chosen a pattern that she would like and I plan to make one for myself as well. So, I should be in the apron business for a while yet.

The first step in making the apron was to get the pattern from the book enlarged 400%. The friendly woman at Kinko's figured it all out and printed my pattern for me on a large sheet of paper.

I thought the apron turned out pretty well and hope Megan agrees. This apron is cut on the bias and I did have a slight bit of trouble stitching the waistline seam without puckers. I think if I make this one again I will add a little bit of gathering on either side near the ties. I did find the general directions in the front of the book for working with the bias tape to be excellent. I had fun making this and am looking forward to trying some of the other designs.

Becka

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I love aprons. I have made many aprons over the years, both to wear myself and to give as gifts to other apron-wearing friends. For the last few years this has become my favorite apron pattern:

Here is one of my current favorites made from this pattern:

Knowing my love for aprons, DD Nora (pictured here with her dog, Paisley)

got me this book and fabric for Christmas:

The book contains a section on vintage aprons, basic construction techniques, making aprons from other items such as dishtowels and skirts, and patterns for 25 different aprons. It is chock full of apron ideas. The patterns are included in the book in miniature form and you have to enlarge them 400 percent. Megan and Nora have each chosen a design and fabric that they like, so I will keep you posted on any finished aprons in the coming months. I've got my fabric washed and ironed and now I need to go to a copy store and get my pattern enlarged.

How about you - do you wear aprons and do you have a favorite style or pattern?

Edited to add: Attempting to use another pattern in this book I ran into great difficulties with the pattern. I decided to check at Amazon to see the customer reviews and find if others had run into similar problems. I was amazed/dismayed at all the bad reviews! Most people feel like the book has great pictures and ideas for the aprons, but many of the patterns do not go together well and the fabric requirements that are listed are not accurate. I can give an illustration of that: for the apron I was trying to make the pattern listed 1/4 of a yard for the waistband and ties. It then proceeded to tell me to cut a piece 7" wide by 70" long. As you can see, something is missing here. So, as many of the people who commented on the Amazon site wrote I would recommend that you get this book from the library and use it for inspiration and then buy a commercial pattern if you actually want to make an apron.

Becka

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