Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Aprons

My mother and I had an adventure yesterday.

She was visiting me and brought along a 'Farm Girl' magazine, which is basically a woman's trade show in a magazine with lots of fun stories and little recipe tips tucked in everywhere. It's a lot of fun to look through and say "I can do that!".

Well, in this particular issue, there was a collection of very cute aprons. That might not sound very interesting but understand that aprons are almost ALWAYS frumpy or just plain boring. Why, I don't know. You would think that for something stereotypically worn by women they would be, well, pretty. When mom showed me the aprons, I had to have one. This one, in fact.

www.maryjanesfarm.org

But then I had second thoughts. Maybe this one. It is almost Christmas, after all.


www.maryjanesfarm.org

Then I saw the price and had third thoughts, which went along the lines of 'Who would pay $40 for an apron?! Why are they charging that?! But I want it!" I'll be honest, if I'd still had $40 in my personal spending (well $47 because they have to charge shipping, too) I would have bought it in an instant. But I didn't. I contemplated splitting the cost between my personal spending and 'home supplies' (it is for kitchen use only, after all) but my mother gave me that 'you're being totally ridiculous' look and I knew I couldn't do it.

So I started sketching out the apron, which is what I do for most pieces of clothing I really like, then I started sketching out what I thought the pattern might look like, googled some apron patterns to see if my pattern looked at all like those, and decided I didn't have to buy it, even though I still really wanted to, I could make it.

So I made a mini-mock-up while my mom went to her school conference. (I'll post a picture when I find my camera).

When Dustin came home I showed him the picture and explained my predicament. I told him it was the cutest apron ever and that I was completely taken with the little patch pocket and that when I saw the bow that was there just because, I had to have it. He chuckled and said something along the lines of, "That's just like a woman. A bow with no purpose is the most important part." I wondered if I should be offended, then decided I wasn't. It was true. I wanted the bow with no purpose and there's nothing wrong with that.

The next day mom and I cut and sewed and guessed and adjusted and recreated what we believe to be a fairly accurate imitation of the very cute mary jane apron. I learned a lot through the experience.

1. You don't actually need a pattern to make stuff.
2. Mom knows lots of little tips and tricks.
3. Getting it wrong the first time is fixable.
4. I really can do it.

I'll post a picture here of the mock-up apron, again, as soon as I find my camera. It's super cute, even if it is made out of an old bed sheet that I pulled out of the trash over the summer (don't worry, I washed it). Mom says it looks like I'm wearing a butcher's apron, completely with stains, but a very cute butcher's apron. And an apron I am very proud of.

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