Apron shenanigans

A year ago last September, I started a little linen apron project. Very simple. I took a length of handkerchief weight linen, terribly carefully drew threads to make some straight lines, double-folded the hem, and pulled more threads to make room for some lovely, delicate hem-stitching.

And hated every second of it. Mostly I find hand-sewing fairly meditative, but the hemstitching on slubby linen threads (tiny ones at that) was utterly maddening. I should’ve started with a coarser linen. I should’ve used a blunt needle. I should’ve… not done it.

As soon as I could distract myself with another project, I did, and while I’ve tried to return to the hemstitching a few times since, I’m barely past the halfway point.

But, I still did kinda want an apron. A nice full one to wear while cooking (which, much as I try to avoid it, is still something I end up doing with distressing regularity.) and keep my fancy skirts or dresses clean… or just to make the tedium of domesticity a little bit less irksome.

Fast forward to last Sunday, when my friend Diane was bestowing some pieces from her stash on the Victorian Sewing Circle. Being a glutton I took just about everything (oops), including a generous mètre of wide white slubby fabric… I’m guessing a linen/cotton blend. And, desperate to reduce what I was adding to my stash, I decided to transform this piece into a quick and dirty version of the long-coveted apron.

I started (again) by pulling a thread to square the one end (the other end was already neatly torn and I definitely could just have done that but somehow I feel the urge to be fancy with linen aprons?)

I tore two strips from the torn end, the width of the ties I wanted, give or take a seam allowance or two. I cut a piece from the end of each strip the width I wanted the pleated part of the apron to be (in hindsight a little bit longer would have been better, so the apron covered more of my sides. But anyway.) The plan was to have this front piece be double-layered to encase the pleats, while the ties themselves were single layered to conserve fabric.

I hemmed the edges of the long strips on the Rocketeer in my bedroom with my rolled hem foot, which should’ve been quite simple except that something was up with the tension and I had to turn it down to 2 and even then every so often it would birdsnest. It was working perfectly last time… I wonder sometimes if lifting it in and out of its table shakes things around. Anyway, I stubbornly persisted which means there are some parts that look like this:

Other than machine issues it was a quick project.

I wasn’t too precious about the pleating; I wanted a small flat space in the middle and then knife pleats pointing away on each side. They’re… roughly even.

I finished the inside of the waistband by hand, and also the big hem at the bottom, and it was so insanely fast compared to the hemstitching, and now it’s all done!

I was a bit boneheaded and sewed my waistband on the wrong way around, so that the rolled hems are pointing out when the ties are tied. But again, I’m not prepared to undo a bunch of stuff to redo it. It’ll work.

I haven’t had an apron before… I’m curious how I’ll like it. Is it too long? Will I wish it had pockets? Will I wish I finished the hem stitched one? Only time will tell…