A Vintage Apron for 21st Century Cooking

Wow- I can not believe it is Friday all ready!  This week really got away from me.

My apron was finished on Monday, but it seems it is now the day to share it....well.  I designed this vintage apron to coordinate with my Home Sweet Home panel table topper. I had in my mind, ruffles and a block as the pocket.  The rest just evolved.

It is hard to see it here but the apron has ruffles on the top of the pocket as well as the top band.  The extra long ties can be wrapped around your waist (not mine!) for a cute bow front.

My inspiration for the apron came from the coordinating fabric for this panel. I was orginally going to use it for the apron fabric but I didn't like the 'look'. So I designed it according to the picture I had in my mind.

I was pretty excited to dig out my 4mm rolled hem foot and my ruffler attachment to save some time during the construction of my apron.  Starting the rolled hem is always the challenge but here is a quick method to use to start stitching your fabric.

I finished the raw edges of the ruffle and the ties with this foot and was done in no time! You can see that it stitches a nice straight edge with a very small seam.  This foot is defintely worth the money and a few little tricks will make hemming with it a breeze.

Do you own a ruffler attachment? No?  This great little attachment is well worth the money as it saves so much time and frustration.

The irony is that this little attachment has not changed much un the last 100 years.  I remembering finding one of these in my grandmother's treadle machine. The Singer Featherweight included a box of 6-7 additional feet and this was always included.

The lever in the front can be adjusted for the distance of the pleats and can be attached to the fabric at the same time.

However, this is not what I did!😁 I cut 3 strips of fabirc 3.25" wide x wof.  I then sewed them end to end along the short side.  I finished one edge with the rolled hem and ruffled/pleated the other edge. Quick and easy!

Here is a close up of the ruffle and yes, the 3 strips fit perfectly to the apron.  I did do a test sample to adjust the pleats, but even I was surprised!

It takes me awhile to design and write a pattern, so If you would like me to make this apron into a pattern, leave me a comment in the comment section.  Stop by the store to pick up the panel and fabrics before they disappear!

Are you a SEW-ciopath?

Is it serious?  It could be, but probably not.  I know I am making light of a very serious health emergency currently, but here at Scrap & Sew, we are trying to make the best of it.  So I thought I would poke some fun at a 'disease' many of us sewers/quilters have and that is an addiction to sewing also know as a SEW-ciopath.

I have been featuring 'Bundle Buddies' the last few weeks and we are going to mix it up and change the bundle buddies to the fifth Friday of the month. It will feature 5 fat quarters instead of four and will occur in the months that have five Fridays. (Thanks, Cathy for the inspiration)  The next 5th Friday is July 31st and you will want to check back to see what I am featuring that day.

Now onto to our 'disease'.  We have several panels at the store and even a few of them are on sale.  Lately I have been crazy tryng to figure out what to do with them (a sign of the disease) and I found this terrific new book (to me) called Panel Play by Barbara Becker.

I decided my first project would be to use the Home Sweet Home panel by Moda.

I selected the Top My Table design on page 20 and it sewed up rather quickly following her directions.  I then sandwiched my batting with a square piece of the backing fabric. This makes it easier to do the edge-to-edge designs and keep them vertical and straight.

I selected the cherry design from the Jumbo 2 collection by Amelie Scott.  these designs come in three BIG sizes - Large, Oversize and Extreme.  I measure the size of the Oversize and it's size calculated to fit 3 across and 2 down. Perfect!

                     

I stitched out a sample on tearaway stabilizer and marked it to create a visual for my stitching.

I drew a vertical line down the center of the table topper and then measured and marked the center points for the designs. I hooped the tabel topper in the Jumbo hoop using the vertical and horizontal marks on the hoop.  I then used the metal clips to secure the fabric sandwich in the hoop. Yikes- I need to clean my  hoop!

Using precise positioning I was able to align my design with the  markings and then stitched out OA-A.  The first half of the design.

I noticed that the tension was off since I used a cream color in the needle and black in the bobbin.  I adjusted it slightly and even though it was not perfect, I could live with it.

I followed the directions in the book to add the binding and the trickiest part was the corners, but I am happy with the results.   

Here is a close up of the cherries in the design.  They are perfect for this collection.

Since I only used 4 of the blocks in the panel, I got busy with what I could do with the other four.  You will have to come back to see what I have 'cooked' up!

Ho! Ho! Ho! Christmas in July

Yes, this week's theme for the Bundle Buddies is Christmas in July. Because why not?

We received this new fabric line recently and I thought it would be perfect for a little table topper.

The pattern is included inside the bundle and stitches up super quick. It would also adapt quite easily to any other theme.  I can see a Halloween  topper in my future.

Stop by soon to pick up this Bundle Buddie and get a head start on your holiday stitching.

Gardening Week comes to a quick finish!

Well that was a fast week!  Honestly, I have no idea where the days go. I thought I would share two projects that I made before I started working at Scrap & Sew.  The gardening tote bag is from a project shared in Sew News.  You can download the digital copy here.

I did use canvas that I found in Michaels (back when I was actually shopping) and some garden themed fabric I had in my stash.

I found the designs in the Premier+ software under Sample designs.  I also created a garden flag using the same fabric and similar designs.

My little garden babies are growing up way too fast and the Florida weather did wreak havoc my little flag after a few months.  No new babies to add to a new flag, but that is OK!

See you next week! Ho! Ho! Ho!

Bugs Galore

The Bugs in the Garden fabric line is a perfect complement to this week's theme.  I love the bright colors and if course, all of the ants.

I decided to work with this fabric line when I was working on the Ultimate Picnic Mystery Quilt.  I enjoyed it during the quarantine, but I am now so busy doing other projects that I put it aside.  

I did finish the garden flag in April of 2019 to teach as a class.

Jennifer G finished hers as well and it is hanging in her garden.

I hope you are spending some time in your garden this summer as well.

Let's Talk Gardening this Week!

It is hot, hot HOT here in Tampa, but much of the country is enjoying beautiful blooms in their gardens. SO I thought this week would be a perfect week to feature gardening projects.  Off to Pinterest I go and I found several great project ideas to CASE.  To CASE as a verb means to copy and share everything.  Casing etiquette requires you to give credit to where you found the project and I am all about that.  

I found this cute project idea on the Janome Project page here.  You can donwload the instructions but I have included my version of the indoor/outdoor planters in your bundle as well.

I must admit - I love gnomes! I have lived with them my entire life and I even have a few vintage ones hanging out in my garden. I painted these fo rmy mom's garden in the 70's.  Now they hang out in my garden.

When I saw this fabric, I knew I just had to use this for my little outdoor planters.

Garden Gnomes 

I added some of my favorite fat quarters for the circular bottom and cuff.

Expressions Apple Green

    Spotted by Zen Chic #1660

The original pattern called for Outdoor UV & Water Resistant polyester fabric (Sunbrella) and thread but I decided to adapt it to what I had on hand. I found some Heat n Bond Iron-On Vinyl and used that to cover the fabric.

Applying this product can be a bit tricky, so watch this video for a fail-proof application. I added a presscloth on top of the paper grid for an added protection.

The directions.tutorial are tucked into your bundle buddie for another summer project of fun.  Remember all of my bundle buddies need only a basic straight stitch machine to complete.

Come back again this week for some more gardening projects.  I may have made them or I may have not. 😀

Quick and Easy Flag Banner

As we count down to the 4th of July holiday, I am running out of time to finish some projects.  But I did manage to cut, sew AND finish this flag banner.  The pattern is one from Cut Loose Stars and Stripes and it uses a small amount of fabric.

Here is my finished flag banner on my front door. My first color choices for the dark and medium blue are in the scrap bin.  I am usually pretty good inpicking out colors and fabrics but in the end- my favorite Grunge by Basic Grey won this battle.

I also was able to use the edge to edge stars large design and embroidered 5 repeats skipping the last part of the design to avoid the blue sashing on the flag.

I also did embroidered her table runner for July and it fits perfect on my front hutch.  Here it is in the store.

Here is Off Road Project with a placemat, hot pad and even coasters from the Stars and Stripes cd.

Normally this is only offered through quilt stores such as ours, but you can now purchase it through her ONLY UNTIL July 4th.

There is also a link for the free stars file that she mentions in the video to quilt the hot pad and placemats.  I may or may not get them done before Saturday! :)

Happy Stitching everyone and celebrate the 4th with Scrap & Sew as we are open on Saturday!