In my Etsy store, that is. It’s been a long time coming, it seems. I really need to pick up the pace. But I am pretty proud of what I’ve got in there so far. This week I added five sets of cloth napkins and three aprons.
I’m a sucker for fruit prints. A few years ago, I decided that our family needed to do away with paper napkins and all the mess and waste they create. I found fabric with oranges and with grapes and fell in love with them. I decorate my kitchen in blue and yellow, so I obviously wasn’t following any kind of color theme in choosing them. But I think the vibrant colors of the fruits can go with any decor. They’re fun! My family has been using those same oranges and grapes napkins (with the semi-recent addition of blueberries) ever since and the colors are still as bright as ever, even going through hot water washes. I’ve never had a problem with the dyes bleeding, either, although I wouldn’t recommend washing them with your whites!
I love the style of this apron with the reverse sailor collar. This pattern was kind of strange to put together at first, but it all makes sense now. The collar snaps in the back and then it ties at the waist, too.You can’t help but feel a little sassy wearing it.
I’ve made this heart apron before for a craft swap on craftster a few years back. It was fun to do again and I know I did a better job on it this time around. That’s the fun thing about sewing the same pattern more than once: you can see how your skills have improved!
This one I love! Apron with built-in potholders?! Genius! The pattern said to sew the diagonal part of the potholder down all the way. But I could tell right away that doing so would result in many dropped dishes; there was no way to use the potholder portion without it slipping. So instead, I sewed the bottom half of the diagonal line, leaving an opening to insert your hands. Now they work kind of like oven mitts. Another thing that I will change the next time I do this is to bind all of the edges of the apron and potholders in bias tape instead of trying to sew them wrong sides together and fold it back out. Once you have three layers of batting and four layers of fabric, you’ve got a lot of thickness to deal with. I ended up topstitching around the outer corners of the potholders to help hold them down where they wanted to turn back inside-out. Thanks to my friend, Rebekah, for all the great photos!
If you, personally, don’t need aprons or napkins or assorted baby things that I have in my store, maybe you know someone who does. Pass it on, if you do!
I’ve just completed a prototype Easter bonnet for Granota and learned a lot in the process. It’s not as perfect as I’d like it to be, but I plan on correcting those small mistakes when I make Rana’s next. Hopefully after that one, I’ll have it figured out and can move on to the ones I want to put up in my shop. I’ll post about them next week.
Two Frogs and a Grasshopper 