Whole Lot of Projects Going On

It's about three weeks since I put my Etsy shop in mothballs, and I'm starting to feel my creative juices flowing again. It's amazing what having free time can do. Anyway, no long intro--I've been out of the loop with this blog for a long time, so I'm just going to launch in. About a year ago, I saw a youtube video about making your sewing scraps into useable pieces of fabric. Kind of nice and mindless--no pattern needed, no plan--just sort of crazy quilting little pieces of fabric together. I'm always loathe to throw out bits of vintage fabric, and I'm not especially skilled in my sewing, so this idea was appealing. From time to time, when I was in the mood to make something but hadn't the energy to tackle an actual project, I would pull out some scraps and go to it. A couple of days ago I decided I wanted to try actually making something with the results. Wasn't sure what; just knew I didn't want to make yet another tote bag. I settled on a reversible apron. I have made a number of these over the years because I wear them almost every day, and I know what style and features I want. And I'm a cheapskate! Don't want to fork out the money to buy those cute frilly mid-century style aprons I see for sale, although they are quite fun. I like a cheery-looking apron, simply styled, and I like them double-sided so I can flip them over if one side gets a bit mucked up before I'm ready to do the laundry. So, anyway,I pulled out one of an "old faithful", traced around it on my crazy-quilt cloth, and in very short order, voila!

It has a fun pocket, too. Nice to have found a good use for this little snippet of butterfly print fabric:

For the opposite side of the apron, I took the plunge and cut up a small hemmed panel of vintage kitchen curtain fabric I've had in my stash for a long time. Had to pluck up my nerve a bit, but I did it! Here's the apron's reverse pattern:

And I have to show off the pocket--I matched it up so it's almost invisible!

Now, in case you're wondering about the red dress on the dummy, it's a sixties full-skirted beauty I picked up at a garage sale this past summer for $4. It just needs a bit of replacement stitching at on the zipper and is waiting its turn in my mending queue. Pretty thing, huh?

Finally, to finish up, I stitched up some new hotpads. (My old ones are in pretty disreputable condition.) Here they are, front and back. Not fancy, but a satisfying project all the same.

Be back soon to show you more projects. Be sure to head over to the facebook page for daily vintage and vintage-inspired posts.