Fat Quarter Gardening Aprons

Well, I apologize for being a bit AWOL this week - it's been super busy!  Unfortunately, I haven't been busy with sewing-related projects, but I've been a bit swamped with job/family/yoga-related projects (Okay, the yoga isn't so much a "project" as an "activity").  This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it isn't really relevant to sewing either.  However, I do have a couple projects to show off:

This is a project that I saw on Sew Mama Sew a few weeks ago, and I decided that I needed to make a couple.  One for myself, one for my mother.  I think the blue and green one will have to be for my mother - she is a more avid gardener than I am, and I think the darker colors will hide dirt better.  I don't garden as much, so the lighter color might stand a chance.

All of my fat quarters came from Sew to Speak, but I can't really say who the designers are.  One is an Anna Maria Horner print.  I absolutely love the ties - this is a Michael Miller bias tape.  I have so many ideas for this notion.  I'd like to have a messenger bag with this around the edges, and I'd like to have either a skirt or a top (maybe both) with this for trim.  One thing at a time.

It's a really fun project, and the apron looks fantastic on my beautiful, skinny daughter who was kind enough to model for me.  I think they'll be fine for my mother and myself, but if a person is too much bigger, they may need to use larger pieces of fabric so that the apron covers the entire front of their waist.  But this is just a suggestion - I don't think you'd want it to look too narrow in the front.

Fun stuff!  

The other day at Target, my daughter fell for a pretty floral summer dress - pinkish-purple with ruffles.  My immediate response was "I can totally make that".  So I plan to.  Soon.

Have a great weekend!

Fabric-by-Fabric One-Yard Wonders: Hot Pad Apron

Oh, how  I adore the One-Yard Wonders franchise.  I usually mix and match fabrics and I don't necessarily stick with the one-yard philosophy, but I really think they're fun projects.  Maybe because they're generally quick, easy and completely satisfying.  Ever since I got the new Fabric-by-Fabric One-Yard Wonders book in December, I've had a long list of projects that I wanted to try, one of them being the fantastic Hot Pad Apron.  Lucky for me, this is the chosen pattern for the Sew Along this month!

Like many other One-Yard Wonders patterns that I've made in the past, I didn't use an exact yard of fabric.  Rather, I was given a bunch of fabrics that I had no idea what to do with, and this plaid happened to be among them.  Like I've said before, I like to think that I'm still embracing the One-Yard Wonder concept by being thrifty and using a fabric that I already had on hand.

Some notes on this pattern:

• I didn't feel that there was quite enough fabric for the waist ties (because they were trying to get everything to fit in just one yard!), so I cut my waist ties a little more generously than you are supposed to.
• The hot pads can be a bit tricky to sew, because they get so thick. I didn't hammer my edges flat, but it might be a good idea.
• I felt that I needed an additional tack sewn in the hot pads, as they were still flopping out a bit with only one.  I added one more, about an inch from the first - this seems to work pretty well (see below):

I used white thread to put the tacks through the hot pads, and they are not very noticeable at all - I added red circles to the two photos above so that they are easier to find.

I think this may have to be my new go-to apron, at least for springtime.  No more searching for oven mitts!