...on the clothes line, that is! Here are some of my latest half aprons, many featuring some newly acquired mint-condition vintage fabrics and some inventive new ways to recycle shirt cuffs.
Check out the angle of the points on the vintage blue/white stripe collar on this first apron. In combination with a skirt and ties of new designer fabric and waistband and pocket of a fabulous vintage fabric I got at an antique barn in Maine last month. Rich colors - I had enough to use on three aprons.These ladybugs have been popular and one of my all-time fave fabrics over the years. It was a jumper my sister wore as a little kid in the early 1970s. I've paired it with some very fine shirting fabric - Brooks Brothers grade, I'm not kidding. I used to have a contact at LLBean who gave me yardage of fabrics they were testing for possible products.
These blue stripes are edged in tiny pinstripes of red.More of the same shirting, only a lovely medium blue. The white stripes are edged in red. Just the thing to go with this vintage floral I got a couple of weeks ago in Waitsfield, VT while checking out the Mad River Valley Crafts Fair. I don't know what color-name to call the collar. It's one of those earth tones, a light rust but more brown. See the little fish skeleton above the pocket? I live for those little unexpected touches.
This is actually one of the loveliest of the batch, but the lighting wasn't just right for the shot. More of that high-class LLBean-tested shirting; red stripes this time, edged in blue. I didn't have a shirt collar in dark blue I wanted, so I went after the sleeve cuffs instead. I think they work. Yay! Yet another part of the shirts that will not go to waste. It feels good to get the fullest use out of my resources. I'm like the hunter who used every part of the animal.
This one is rather stately. Blue/white pinstripes skirt, rather sturdy and crisp; vintage yellow/green floral; black shirt collar with white pinstripes.
More sleeve cuffs! And check out these wonderful fire-colored (yellows, oranges, reds) birds on blue foliage. The skirt is a new little 40's style calico - circles and dots print.
These sleepy owl make good aprons. They are rather cute, tired after being out hunting all night. They have whiskers drawn on under their beaks for some reason. The whiskers don't look out of place, but I didn't know owls had whiskers. maybe they are the whiskers of their dinners, sticking out...?
I made two full aprons with other types of complimentary colors. You'll get to see them in the full apron blog coming soon. 
Blue trellis surrounds a sweet Asian garden scene
on this vintage fabric my cousin Colee, got for me. (More gifts from Colee for you if you make it to the end of this post).
Blue trellis surrounds a sweet Asian garden scene
on this vintage fabric my cousin Colee, got for me. (More gifts from Colee for you if you make it to the end of this post).This subtle combination is one of my favorites. You can't see it very well here. I'll just say that the collar is from a shirt something like what I used to wear in the early 90s and the little sailboat on the pocket is actually the corner of the moon from the midnight owls fabric.
I cut and pieced the waistband to get more of the dark leaves around the yellow violets. They feel dark and mysterious to me, needing another dark collar. Like the deep woods of fairy tales.
I cut and pieced the waistband to get more of the dark leaves around the yellow violets. They feel dark and mysterious to me, needing another dark collar. Like the deep woods of fairy tales.
My 9-year-old daughter is a big fan of my work. Actually, I get lots of little girls drawn into my booth - mostly by the kitten pillows, I think. Anyway, Edith (daughter unit), is a child of the fairies and loves to make things out of birch bark and leaves. She has mentioned several times that her "dream house" is a little log cabin in the woods with a stream running nearby. Think The Three Bears or The Seven Dwarfs. I didn't tell her the mood I was trying to evoke with this apron, but when I had this batch finished a week or so ago, she told me that this one would be perfect for her dream house. She gets me.
Thank you for getting all the way to the end! Like I said, here's another gift from Colee: she emailed me a link to Flight of the Conchords on YouTube. Please view this clip if you want a brilliant laugh. Thank you, Colee!
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