UFO —> FO #1: Retro baby booties

Betcha thought I had forgotten, didn’t ya? Nope, nope, those UFOs are still looming over my head. But I got one done! Like I talked about in my first UFO post, I felt like the baby booties needed to be completed first so that, y’know, the baby might get a chance to wear them. I dug them out and wow. I had barely done a thing to them when I put them away 4+ years ago. And why did I put them away 4 years ago? I have no idea. It really only took about four evenings of embroidering and about ten minutes to pin and sew the soles on. Sometimes I think I mentally construct these giant obstacles just to feed the procrastination monster.

The pattern is Simplicity 2867, originally from 1948. There are three different styles, all adorable.

The booties are made from wool felt. That stuff is not cheap! Good thing these booties take only a miniscule amount. The little laces are just crocheted embroidery floss.

Now that the booties are finished, we may have a problem. Sprinkaan has square little feet — they are already the width of the booties, while of course being nowhere near the length. By the time his feet get long enough to wear them without looking like little vintage clown shoes, his feet will be too wide to cram into them anyways! If I had finished these for Konik like I had originally intended, I doubt we would have had this dilemma because he has long, narrow feet. Procrastination comes back to bite me.

Well, they’re cute. And the baby is cuter.

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As for the rest of my UFOs, I wrote them on slips of paper, put them in a jar and I pulled one out at random, with the goal of completing one per month.

And the winner is…

I filled a page!

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.

Everybody needs a cherry apron

And by “everybody,” I mean, specifically, me, although I do think any kitchen is enhanced by the addition of an apron in a bright cherry print. Cherry = Cheery. See? Ok, those words aren’t related at all. But for some interesting etymology, check this out: The word “apron” is not the original form. Prior to the 14th century, the word was actually “napron,” related to “nappe” and “napkin.” After awhile, people’s ears stopped hearing “a napron” and converted it to “an apron.” Nifty, huh? (If you like this kind of stuff, check out one of my favorite sites, The Word Detective. He’s got all kinds of great stories!)

In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that I do, in fact, already own a cherry print apron which I received in a craft swap quite some time ago. I like it, it’s just that… it’s a half apron and, well, it’s usually not my lap that needs protecting from rogue tomato sauce. My tally (before today) of full aprons came to a grand total of two. 2. Dos. Two unusually sloppy nights of cooking and those aprons are down for the count. One is a heavy cotton with a toile print that Mr. Gren gave me years ago. The second is another one I received in a swap and has snowmen all over it. Even though our temp today hovered around 55 F, it’s still June and wearing snowmen in June… just makes me feel weird. Spring may never arrive outside this year, but it sure will in my kitchen, by golly.

I bought this cherry fabric over a year ago. It has been languishing in the bottom of a large sack full of fabric, all destined for various projects, all sitting there for over a year. Sometimes I get distracted. For some reason, knowing that we are moving soon (within a few weeks), has lit a fire under me to bust through my fabric and yarn stashes as much as possible. I don’t know why it makes a difference; I’m going to pack it all with me. If anyone wants to psychoanalyze this compulsion, feel free.

The pattern I used is a 1940s reproduction. I liked the halter top design and the pleating. The pattern called for bias tape trim around the edges of the halter, but I didn’t have any in a color that would go, and since Mr. Gren is currently unemployed, I’m trying hard not to spend any extra money on craft supplies. Maybe that’s why I’m concentrating so hard on my stash. Anyway, instead of trimming in bias tape, I just made a narrow hem to finish the edges. Overall, I’m happy with how it came out. Easy on, easy off. And who knows, maybe the lure of wearing a cheery cherry apron will inspire me to cook tomorrow night. My family probably hopes so.