Do you know that you can get fabric at the thrift store? The price is so affordable ($0.25/yard sometimes) that it's perfect for a newbie seamstress. I feel like I can practice without worrying about ruining a more expensive fabric.
The cheap fabric coupled with my recent artistic foray had me taking a shot at making an apron/art smock. I've recently discovered that you can't be an easy breezy artist without making a mess; hence the smock.
I found a free (free!) downloadable apron pattern at Sew4Home. It has a flounce and everything. (Did you know that's what the little ruffly part is called? Me neither). I can't tell you how cute it looks (you'll have to pop over to have a peek), but it just didn't work for me. I tried the pockets but I couldn't get them to match so I gave up on them.
I tried to learn how to attach bias tape, but that didn't work either. Instead, I just sewed together the front and back (right sides together), turned them, and then top-stitched all the way around.
I got to the buttonhole part and couldn't figure out how to make one on my sewing machine. I almost got it to work, but not quite. This is about when I regretted sewing the two sides together. If I hadn't, I could have just slipped the neck and waist straps in between and sewed it all up. Now I was stuck.
I wrote a note on Facebook to make sure my peeps would still love me if I could never figure out how to make a buttonhole. They said they would, so I moved on to Plan B.
I wanted to keep the adorable knotted ends so I dug in my stash and found these cute little grommets (also a thrift store steal at a quarter).
All I had to do was to cut a small 'x' in the fabric where the grommet pieces could pass through. A word of warning, be careful not to cut these too large or the grommet will just slip right on through (not that I'd know anything about that of course).
I did what I refer to as the cheater version of the straps. Instead of sewing right sides together and then turning the strap right-side-out, I did the folding method.
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| Fold in half and press |
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| Open up. Fold bottom up to the halfway point. Press. |
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| Fold top down to halfway point. Press. |
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| Fold bottom edge up to the top. Press. |
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| Top-stitch all the way around. |
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| Feed straps through and knot to secure. |
I like the appearance of the grommets and they were really easy to secure. I would definitely use them again though I will be trying to figure out the whole buttonhole business in the meantime.
I love the cute little flounce on this smock.
The tutorial is great but my sewing skills just weren't up to the job. I improvised and made things up the entire way along, but in the end I at least have something that I can wear when I paint.
How is it that I took a good 20 photos and the only one that remotely turned out has a big piece of hair hanging in my face? Hmmm? Does this happen to anyone else?
This is where I'm partying:
It's a Party (A Creative Princess)
Super Sweet Thursday Par-tay (Fabulously Flawed)
Happy Hour Fridays (Happy Hour Projects)
Shine on Fridays (One Artsy Mama)
