I'm still around ....

Just wanted to let you know that I am still around .. My day job has been interferring too much with my fun time, but I have been sewing when ever I can and I have almost a doz new, fun and pretty aprons to list... the other problem is that there has been NO sun at all so that I can take decent pictures .. lol ...

Luckily the day job will be slowing down very soon and I can spend some quality time in my sewing room .. I snuck out today and bought some more fabric, it is just the prestest springy fabric and will be so much fun to sew into aprons.

I was playing around about a week ago and decided to make an asymmetrical apron, perhaps I was just feeling in a cockeyed mood that day .. hehehe .. here it is




and if you look carefully in the background you can see one shelving unit full of my fabric that is just waiting to be made up into aprons...

Back in Business ……

Yeaaaaaaaaa, my new sewing machine is on it’s way cross country to it’s new home … it should arrive near the end of the week .. I’m sooo excited I can’t stand it … lol

So in the mean time, I’ve been making new patterns and sewing the sample aprons .. I love sample aprons because I get to add them to my apron wardrobe … Every time I make a new pattern I usually have to make a sample apron to make sure it fits correctly and to figure out the best construction order and methods.. very few of the samples come out good enough to sell, so I get to keep them … there has been a few times that it has taken a couple of samples to get all of the kinks worked out, if a sample isn’t going well I either don’t finish it or tear it all apart and start over …

So, here are a couple that I worked up …. The first one I just LOVE .. LOVE … LOVE it and I hope you all do too … I did the pattern a little different in that I made the entire apron out of muslin and base stitches first, made adjustments and then made the pattern … so the first apron that I made out of pretty fabric turned out great and here it is .. I may list it, only because I have sooo many aprons, but then I really like it so we'll see .... ;)



I just can’t decide about this next apron… I thought I would really like to have an apron in this style to wear while doing housework .. but now that I’ve made one I’m not as sure ..



What do you guys think? Should I make another one to sell or not? do you like it? hate it? Your opinion matters to me, so tell me what you think ....

Electronic blues … or when it rains it pours …

Soon after I took my sewing machine into the shop, my computer printer/scanner/fax stopped working and then a few days later my digital camera decided to stop working … grrrrr .. .by this time I am ready to throw all electronics out and pretend I live 100 years or so ago … Yesterday, having still not heard from the sewing repair guy I stopped by his shop while doing some errands and he tells me that it isn’t fixable, the motor is burned out .. I did sew a lot before Christmas so I guess I should feel lucky I made it through the Holiday season, but this machine was only 1 ½ yrs old, so his verdict didn’t make me happy.
The repair shop has lots of older used sewing machines and I wanted to buy one right then and there but he kept stalling and finally said he would look them over and call me the next day, which is today …. Honestly, I have a custom order for an apron that I said I would do so I wanted a sewing machine right then and there but he didn’t seem to want to take my money .. hmmm, I wonder if his shop is really a front for something else .. lol ..just joking … so I went shopping, got a replacement printer, bought a new memory card for the camera, luckily that is all it needed and I bought a sewing machine. Now the machine I really want has to be ordered, so I got a cheaper one that I can use for a few weeks and then it can be my back up since my older back up isn’t working either. Today I set up the new sewing machine and using a scrap of fabric to test it out with, I was ready to get to work and …. It didn’t work either …. Am I jinxed? I called the manufacture and they had me try a few things and they finally said that it probably is faulty …. grrr .. so I packed it up and went to exchange it … the store didn’t have any more of that model, so I got a different and now I’m afraid to test it .. lol … keep your fingers crossed for me …. Well at least the printer is working so hopefully I will be back sewing aprons soon …. I’ve really missed making them …

Btw, the repair shop still hasn’t called me about one of their used sewing machines ;)

Short time out from sewing ....

Just in case anyone is wondering why I haven't listed any new aprons for awhile, I've been forced to take a short time out due to my main sewing machine becoming ill and it has to go into the sewing machine hospital ;) ... This morning I sat down to sew up one of the new patterns using my old machine and it too isn't working well so after getting very frustrated I just set it aside to wait until my good one is repaired. I think I over worked it during the Christmas season .. lol ..

I'm actually really missing not sewing up some pretty aprons and I'm really looking forward to making some of the new patterns .. I have another new one that I need to get uploaded to the spring review so I'll try doing that in a few days ....

Hopefully I will be back at my sewing machine some time this week ..

oh, when my sewing machine decided that it needed a rest, I was working on the sample from the plus size pattern that I made in this style


I'm very excited about it because I think it will make a great housework apron. The back has criss cross strapes that is sewn to the ties and the ties are meant to come around to the front. There is actually 2 versions of the pocket, one version that is pictured is 3 pockets and ther other version that I am working on has 6 pockets, 3 over 3, very cool!