Happy Holidays

Autumn has always been my favorite time of year. Mother nature is about to put on a beautiful show for us here in New England. It is also the time of year that I start doing my holiday sewing. It is my intention to have my holiday themed work into the stores by the first week of November so now is usually the time I start working on my holiday collection.

When I think about my Holiday collection I think festive rather than the more traditional holiday fabrics. The gray spiral fabric I bought a bolt of a couple of years ago when I ran into it at a sewing shop that was phasing out their fabric department. I was attracted to the fabric because it was not only modern looking but also some what sophisticated. I have made items from this fabric but last year, I felt I wanted to include it in my Holiday collection this year since it is very festive. I always do my holiday fabric shopping after the holidays since that is when I can find them on clearance. In January I spotted the red and metallic gold dotted fabric and felt this would make a nice apron paired with the spiral fabric. I went to work hoping to get two of them made this morning.....the best laid plans of mice and men..right? I discovered I was running low on gray thread. One of the things I have found is what makes a professional looking item is how crisp the corners are. When I first started making aprons, I trained myself to fuss with the corners until they were square. This does not happen at the sewing machine, it happens at the ironing board. The fabric is left over when the bib part of the apron is cut out, is just enough to cut out two 7" pockets which are stitched together and then hemmed along the top. I always fold under the sides of the pockets first and then the top and bottom and sew the hem at the top. My machine has a tie down feature and reverse which I do not use on this hem. I come in about 1/2" from the edge, sew it and then flip the fabric around, sewn over what I just stitched and then continue along the edge and do the same flipping at the end. Since this stitching is highly visible, I find this gives a more finished, clean look. The top photo is the pocket hemmed and pinned, ready to be sewn onto the apron.