I MADE AN APRON!

Since starting my Bonnie Bags project, I’ve been getting more sewing videos coming up in my feed. I do follow a few channels which show how to make authentic period garments, and while I am not really into this, I am interested to see how things were done in the past. One or two of the videos that came up showed how to make old-fashioned aprons. I always wear an apron in the kitchen and have a couple of butcher-style striped ones which I like, but I thought, why not make something prettier?

My first apron – embroidered ferns

I have completed my first one.

I have in my stash a number of old bed sheets, including some beautiful old pure linen ones. They are a bit stained particularly along the lines where they have been folded but I am sure these marks will come out in the wash and I’m not too worried about them. The fabric is perfect and has a gorgeous feel to it. The sheets are large and not at all worn.

Embroidery book

Many years ago, when I was in my early 20s, my dad and I used to exchange magazine subscriptions as Christmas presents. He gave me the monthly magazine “Golden Hands” which featured many different crafts, including embroidery. I had a look on Ebay the other day, and quite a lot of these old editions are still available, and I also found several copies of this book. The styles are pretty dated now, but the instructions were always good. In exchange, I gave Dad a subscription to “The Model Engineer” as he was always pottering in his workshop and his passion was clocks. The magazine did concentrate quite a bit on model trains and things like that, which he wasn’t interested in, but they always featured clocks as well, and instructions on how to make your own machine tools and so on. My magazine was “Golden Hands,” so I called his “Oily Hands” which delighted us both! Each year after Christmas we would travel up to London together and he would buy me a new Laura Ashley dress – the fashion at the time was beautiful long dresses made from cotton printed with small flowers, with plenty of flounces and frills – very romantic and pretty. I had several in my wardrobe for many years. This visit always coincided with the annual Model Engineer’s exhibition and I would share in his pleasure as we went round looking at all the exhibits, which were exquisite in their detail and fine finish. Happy days!

One year he bought me the Golden Hands hardback book – “The Golden Hands Encyclopedia of Embroidery” which I still have.

It shows how long ago I got it – the price was only £3.50! That was probably quite a lot in the early 70s.

The book contains many “stitch libraries” telling you how to work the various stitches.

There are projects to make, and illustrations of “Collector’s Piece” items – special art pieces made by various people. Here are some examples.

There are also pattern pages.

It’s a beautiful book, and it has been a great resource over the years. It covers everything from crewel work to gold thread work, canvas work and smocking, and everything else besides. There isn’t a great deal on each type of embroidery, but enough to get one started, and plenty of inspiration if you want to take the subject further. There are many books which deal in depth with each type of embroidery and I have a number of these on my shelves.

Ferns

Near the beginning of the book is a series of ferns to embroider, and I always absolutely loved these. For nearly 50 years I have thought of working them, but somehow never got around to it. What better opportunity (a bit late in the day!) to work them at last, on my vintage-style apron.

Embroidering the apron

I have done a large design of ferns on the front bib of the apron, and two smaller ones on the pockets. I have also added some small mushrooms, drawn from various online sources and embroidered as I saw fit. I used quite a wide variety of stitches, some of which were new to me. Here are some photos to show this embroidery.

The Bib

Now for some detail shots.

The first pocket

The second pocket

A note about the linen fabric

Now that I have completed the apron, I am very aware of how much linen will crease. The apron feels quite floppy. I think if I starch it lightly, it will hold its shape a bit better and look slightly less like a wrung-out rag! Apart from that, I am very pleased with it, as the linen fabric feels fabulous, and it was a delight to work with. There’s a real link to the past, too, as these old sheets came from my grandmother and may have been in the family for several generations – things were made to last in those days! They are undoubtedly from either the Victorian or Edwardian period. It is lovely to be giving them a new lease of life.

Equipment

To work the embroidery, I used a small circular hoop with a rubbery outer ring which resembles wood.

I have quite a few of these, in dfferent colours – some circlar and some oval, and in different sizes. You can get square ones too but I don’t like the shape of these with the rounded corners. The inner ring has a concave depression around the outside into which the rubber fits snuggly – you simply stretch the outer ring over it and it clips into place. You are supposed to work the embroidery in this, and then attach the little decorative loop on top, and it is ready to hang. I have used these many times in the past to make gifts for people, after I had tidied up the back so that it looked neat. To do this, I laced the edges of the embroidery across the back and then cut a piece of card to the correct size which I covered with calico and stitched invisibly into place onto the back of the embroidery.

Here are a few examples of pieces I have done, using this system.

I like working with these little frames, because they are super-easy to take apart and insert the fabric, and to move it around as you work the design, and they are small and light enough to hold in one hand and work with the other. You can also reach into the middle quite easily.

For this project I used stranded cotton throughout, using 3 strands. I have a large stash of this, as over the years many people have given me the supplies of various deceased grandmothers etc.! I am always a willing recipient of any creative materials or equipment to go in my already full-to-the-gunnels studio! (OK, I’m a bit of a hoarder…)

Future plans

I am planning to make another apron (one on, one in the wash) from more of the linen sheet material, and I am trying to decide whether to do a traditional floral design on this one, or perhaps decorate it with lace and pintucks. I shall probably go for the former, because the other day my hubby lent me a gorgeous book he bought recently at one of his History Society lectures. The book was written by the speaker, and it was on the subject of fine art depictions of Devon gardens through the centuries. It is stuffed with beautiful illustrations and I have found several that would serve as excellent inspiration for floral designs for my second apron.

My new-old Pfaff sewing machine has come into its own and it is lovely to be sewing with it again. I am sewing the apron with pure cotton thread, and the embroidery is worked in stranded cotton, so the whole garment will be machine washable at high temperature, which I prefer for my towels and linens as they come out snowy white. I am sure that any age-stains will soon come out of the old linen fabric, but if not, they will add to their vintage charm!

New sewing equipment

A few weeks ago when I was cutting out the linen sheeting for the apron, I really struggled with my old fabric shears. There seemed to be a point where they would not cut. I tried everything to sharpen them but to no avail. I have had these scissors for more years than I can remember but my hubby suggested I bought myself a new pair. The old ones cut paper perfectly (I have never used them for this – golden rule! Never use your fabric/sewing scissors for paper!!!) but since I was replacing them I thought I would try. They have therefore gone into my paper/mixed media area for use there.

I found a large pair of heavy tailor’s shears online. They have much longer blades and my goodness do they cut well! They are extremely heavy but this is an advantage when cutting fabric as they do not wander about all over the place. For cutting long lengths they are perfect, and I am delighted with them.

They came in a cardboard box and had a plastic guard over the blades. Not particularly spectacular packaging for this specialist tool and I think they could have provided a decent case for them, but for the price it isn’t too bad. One day I may get around to making a decent leather case for them.

They came with a free pair of snips. Again, these did not have any kind of case, and the points are extremely sharp – very easy to injure yourself if these were just knocking around in your sewing box.

As a temporary measure, I am storing them in a small plastic box that they just fit in, if I squeeze them closed first.

I shall definitely want to make a case for these, too.