Designer: Kendra McCracken
http://kendramccracken.blogspot.com
Being a stay-at-home mom, between meals, snacks, canning, and my love of baking, I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Aprons are a necessity for me. Grabbing a fun,colorful apron to wear gets me started on my tasks in the kitchen with some added enthusiasm, which comes in especially handy when it comes to things like doing the dishes!
I purchased a McCalls pattern at the fabric store to create this apron but there are a lot of books and websites that supply patterns for adorable aprons and that's normally the route I go. However, I couldn't resist this one for it's retro feel. The emblem with the cherries in the center of the apron is my own personal touch, created using some Fiskars templates and squeeze punches as patterns.
Difficulty rating
Intermediate
Instructions (Print version)
I used my Fiskars No. 8 Razor-Edged Scissors to cut the pattern and fabric pieces.
I next constructed the apron following the instructions that came with the pattern. Aprons are good beginner projects as their basic shape and open back requires very few seams and steps to construct. This one was a little more involved as it required encasing all the edges with bias tape but still took me less than 2 hours to complete and it turned fabulously. My 14-year-old son even offered an unsolicited compliment on it! So little time gives you some experience and a great sense of accomplishment!
Once I had finished the apron, I decided it would look even better if I added a decorative emblem to the center of it. I began by using the Super Sized Circles Templates to create a 4 1/2" circle from white fabric for my base. I encased the edge of the circle using black double fold bias tape.
Using the ShapeTemplate™ Tool - Hearts-1 w/Victorian Border and the No. 8 Razor-Edged Scissors, I cut 2 small hearts from red fabric (backed with fusible webbing) and rounded off the bottoms of the hearts to make cherries.
I created the leaves for the cherries using the Large Mint Condition Squeeze Punch to create a pattern from a piece of scrap paper. I traced the pattern onto the back of fabric backed with fusible webbing and cut them out using my No. 8 Razor-Edged Scissors.
After peeling the fusible webbing paper off the back of each of the pieces, I arranged all of the pieces, including some ric-rac for the cherry stems, on the white circle, ironed them in place to activate the adhesive on the fusible web, and machine stitched around the edges of the small pieces.
The final step was to sew the cherry emblem onto the apron and then it was all ready to add a touch of happiness to my time in the kitchen!
Fiskars Supplies:
Item # 48557097 ShapeTemplate™ Tool - Hearts-1 w/Victorian Border
http://fiskarscrafts.com/tools/t_shapetemplate-tool-hearts-1-wvicto.aspx
Item # 12-49107097 Super Sized Circles
http://fiskarscrafts.com/tools/t_super-sized-circles.aspx
Item # 94547097 No. 8 Razor-Edged™ Scissors
http://fiskarscrafts.com/tools/t_no-8-razor-edged-scissors.aspx
Item # 12-73137097 Mint Condition Squeeze Punch- Large
http://fiskarscrafts.com/tools/t_large-squeeze-punch-mint-condition.aspx
Other Supplies:
1 yard of 2 coordinating fabrics
Mc Calls pattern #3979
thread
3 packages Double Fold Extra Wide Bias Tape
1 package Regular Double Fold Bias Tape
scraps of red fabric and white fabric
green ric-rac
fusible webbing