Black & White

Time for another Apron contest over at Tie One On.  The theme for this one is Black & White.  I've been thinking about making another apron since the plaid one I made in the fall and I was hoping to find the time to make one before the end of February.  My mother is coming to visit for the weekend and was supposed to arrive this morning.  Due to bad weather her flight was canceled which means she's delayed until tonight.  It's too bad we'll miss the day together, but that did give me a few hours to kill.  My thoughts immediately went to the apron.

I had no idea what type of apron to make.  I like the way half aprons look and I'm more apt to wear one if there's only one set of ties, but I have this terrible habit of wiping my hands near my waist so half aprons don't have enough coverage for me.  I also love anything with a high waist these days.

ok maybe not "anything"

I thought maybe a high waist black leather apron would be perfect.

Just kidding.  

I thought maybe a high waist  apron with an area made especially for hand wiping would be best.  I also wanted something simple since I only had a few hours to play with.  So I went through my stash and found some black and white fabrics.  These were narrowed down to:

a black piece of i'm not sure what type of fabric. 

it feels like a light canvas and i have no idea where it came from.

i just know it's perfect for an apron.

it almost feels like a heavy napkin fabric?

and the flowery fabric is PERFECT.  guess what it's made from.....

swimsuit material!!!

i made a suit out of it years ago and i had a piece just the right size.

you do realize i meant swim"suit" right? 

just checking

First I had to make a quick pattern for the high waist area since I wanted it to curve at the top edge and look sharp.  I had a gift bag that was too crumpled up to save so I cut it up to use as a pattern.

it's at this point that i'm going to apologize for the blurry pics.  the lighting was terrible in my sewing area this morning so i played with some of the settings.  the results are less than perfect






Most of the measurements were just where the ruler ended up since nothing had to be exact, but this is what i came up with:

32" wide by 6" high at the center point

from the center i measured out 3 1/2" on both sides twice

the first off-center points are 5 1/2" high

the second off-center points are 5" high

I have Styling Design Ruler which I don't really use the way it's probably meant to be used.  I got it for a class a took a few years ago.  I enjoyed the class, but we never really used the ruler much during it.  I've used it a ton since, but again I have no idea what I'm doing with it half the time.  That being said, I used it this morning.

from the center point to the first off-center points i drew the arc from about 14 1/2 to 18

seriously though, you could use anything to make this arc.

there's no need to get out a fancy ruler.

i just like the way it feels when i use it.

like something amazing is being created.

it's like using beakers and flasks in the kitchen...

not that kind of flask

this kind

Anyway, back to the pattern

for the second off-center points i drew the arc from about 6 1/4 to 10

that's because this part of the apron will be around my hip

no it won't

i just liked the shape of that arc

please ignore the part where the ruler mentions hips

Then I drew a straight line to the side edge.  When I cut out the pattern and pinned it to my dress form it started to look like what I had envisioned. 

yes that's right...

...i had envisioned a wrestling belt

I started to doubt my vision.  I started to doubt my skills.  I started to doubt my Styling Design Ruler....

I pressed on and pinned some of the black fabric to the dress form to figure out what size rectangle to cut.

what's that? 

do i have a cat?

why do you ask?

oh.  yeah that's gross.

don't worry.

i have to share my sewing area with the cats

but i have a secret weapon:

the apron will be machine-washable

i also have this not-so-secret weapon

it's that new pledge hair picker-upper-thing

and it works pretty well

sorry, but cats shed

Remember how I pinned the black fabric to determine the size rectangle I should cut?  Well it turned out to be about 17" by 21" which I of course forgot to actually measure.  It looked like this when cut and pinned:

except it was less fuzzy in person

When I took the paper pattern off the dress form I cut it in the center since I wanted both sides to be the same.  I cut a piece of the black fabric on the fold using the pattern.

 the other side of the paper was shiny and blue, remember?







I also cut a piece of the swimsuit fabric on the fold.

Remember how I have to share my sewing space with cats?

ugh....
i don't have a secret weapon for dealing with kitty snags on swimsuit fabric.
yet.
i saved that piece in case i find one.
or invent one.



The last two pieces I cut will be used for ties.  I like the idea of using the swimsuiting for ties.  It gives them a stretchiness.

these are 2" by 14" strips of the swimsuit fabric

also i found where i DID take an accurate measurement of

the black rectangle

and it says 17" by 21"

so i should feel smart

because i figured it out without the piece of paper

but i really just feel dumb for forgetting about the piece of paper

Now that I had all the pieces cut out and ready to go I had to figure out what to do with them.  I'll post the assembly section soon.

Keep your fingers crossed that this apron doesn't look turn out looking like a WWE nightmare....