A patchwork Apron.

Phew! This one took awhile. Just around 2 hours actually, but I am glad I put the time into it. This one utilized more left over fabrics. The patchwork pieces were originally meant for a quilt for my dad and his wife for their wedding. It was my fist big patchwork piece and I very quickly realized two things; first, I didn't have any idea how to do it and two, my patchwork skills left much to be desired.... So... I put some of these 9 patch squares together with pretty fabrics and picked the ones that came out the best for my dad's gift... there weren't many and I couldn't stand the thought of cutting out MORE tiny little squares and sewing them all together. So I made them a table runner out of 'em which I am still in the process of hand quilting (their wedding was back in September... so it's a little overdue....)

Aaaaanyway.... I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do for todays apron and in the process of looking for my copy of "A is for Apron" when I stumbled upon these somewhat forgotten pieces and "aha!" It struck me that I should use 'em up on an apron. I stitched all but one of the squares together to make a strip, then stitched 15 of the little ones together to make another strip and put them together with a piece of natural canvas weight linen.

I used the remaining block as a patch pocket. I added a strip of the natural linen to the top to make it more rectangular. I used a pretty pale blue linen (that was also in the patchwork) to line it and top stitched all the way around. I added two pleats at the waist to give it a little shape and used more linen for the waistband. And this is how it looks!

I'm very pleased with it but it's HEAVY. All that linen really gives it heft, but it's nice and sturdy so it will be a great working apron for all sorts of things and messy jobs. I love the way the linen gives it some movement too, even being so thick.

I also decided to whip up another headscarf out of more linen. I made this one shorter in the back which is probably a bit more practical. Instead of adding ribbons afterwards, I just made the lace edging longer on both edges and use that for ties. Other than that it's the same construction as the purple one, and I used the same lace.