Carefree Apron Love

I picked up this Carefree Butcher Apron pattern a little while ago. I think "sample" means it must have been free? Maybe? In 1975? It's fairly common on both Ebay and Etsy, if you want a copy. I'm guessing McCall's Carefree patterns was that company's answer to Simplicity?

Check the awesome cover art. Girl in the red apron - are you getting married in that thing? Seriously. It's so big! 

Love the highlight over Notions. It appears to have been printed that way.

I made the shortest one, because this is kind of a fabric hog. Even with that, I had to piece a little bit of one of the backs and cut it upside down. It's in back, and mostly covered by the other side, so I expect to live. I also added 1-inch belt hardware to make the neck strap adjustable.

I also made the waist ties in black, since I think this cute mostly-white fabric would get pretty grubby if I was tying it all of the time. 

That's the shortest one! It hits me at my knee. The girl in the blue must be 14 feet tall. 

With that said, I LOVE this pattern. It has bust darts! I don't know if anyone else has this problem with overall-style aprons, but they sometimes slide around on me and before I know it, one of my boobs is hanging out of the apron. It kind of defeats the purpose of an apron. 

The fabric is a quilting cotton from SR Harris that's on the heavier end. I've decided it's impossible to find Paris-themed fabric that isn't at least a little crazy, so I might as well lean into it. If you look closely, you can see that this fabric is based on the story of three cats who go on vacation in Paris. They like the Eiffel tower and bicycles. It's adorable. 

I used a yellow chaco-liner for the first time for this project. It freaked me out a little, at first, since it didn't just wipe away the way the white stuff usually does. As soon as I finished sewing it, I applied quite a bit of Shout to the marks and washed it in the washing machine on cold. I laid it flat to dry. I generally air-dry most of the clothes I make, but I especially didn't want to put this in the dryer, in case the chalk hadn't come out all of the way.

It did come out! Yay! 

SR Harris Fabric

This is SR Harris Fabric. Just so you know, this is one of about 20 aisles. All stuffed to the gills. All 50% off - which makes the prices pretty much even with any large fabric store or online store. You just have to be willing to dig. There are also trims, pillow forms, and leather, both in scraps and in whole hides.

Grab a cart, or you may find yourself unable to lift your arms the next day. Don't ask me how I know, because it's embarrassing. :)

All of this gorgeousness in two locations in the Twin Cities area.

Leather!

I decided to try sewing leather on my Singer 328k. I used a leather needle, heavy-duty thread, and went slowly. It went really well! I do want to get a spare bobbin case. I think the only problems I had were all caused by the bobbin tension being a bit tight for the thicker thread. 

Now I have a new problem - how do I source affordable leather? SR Harris has bins of scraps you can buy by weight. Very affordable, but hard to find just the right thing. Maybe I'll get some $$ at Christmas and splurge on a whole hide from SR Harris.