A vintage-inspired apron. With full circle skirt.

Congratulations to Laurwyn, Alexandra and Psycho Sue for guessing correctly! My basket of fabric and trim were destined for apron-ness (although I ended up sidelining the lace trim for a later project.) The 'jammie guess and shirt guess would have been good options too! I like guessing games!

[I am a domestic goddess]

So I was planning on using Butterick 4087, a funky vintage style apron, complete with ruffles. But then I was overcome with an attack of laziness, fear of huge, bat-wing ruffles and a deep yearning for a circle-skirt style rather than gathered for the bottom half. After surfing the internet for inspiration (and what not to do – good gravy there are some crazy aprons out there!) I decided to use Vogue 2902** as a base for the apron. I basically made half a dress. Here’s the original version of the dress.

**Just a note on Vogue 2902 - I used the method in Fit For Real People to remove the horizontal darts and convert the bodice to a bustier style with a sweetheart neckline! For anyone comparing my dress to the Vogue technical drawing, that's why they look different! I also redrafted the contrast band (the green satin part) to add gathers and a center knot!

[Vogue 2902]

I used the skirt pattern piece to cut half of a full circle skirt – I would have cut 3/4 of a full circle skirt, so the apron would reach around my sides, but I didn’t have enough fabric and didn’t want to wait for another shopping trip, wash and dry. I cut the skirt part of the apron around 19” long. I cut the front bodice piece and started pinning away!

I trimmed a large triangle of the front bodice, cutting away the fabric, starting around where the straps on the original dress are, angling towards the waist. I also trimmed a bit from the bottom around the sides – about 4 inches or so – to reduce side gaping. See below if that paragraph didn’t make any sense!

The green polka dot sash (awesome fabric! It’s organic cotton flannel, very pricy – $17.99/yard… that’s why I don’t have more!) is basically appliqued to the bottom of the bodice pattern piece. I cut as a rectangle, then folded in half and lined up my ruler so that it is 4 inches high in the center, tapering down to 3 inches at the sides.

In the photo below, the blue shows the part of the bodice I removed and the green shows the placement of the green polka dot sash.

[making a half dress into a full apron]

I hemmed the apron using horsehair braid to keep the Lucille Ball shape going, lined the bodice, anchoring one side of the neck strap between the bodice and lining. I left the other end free and just tacked, so I can shorten later if necessary. I topstitched everything in orange (holy COW! I am a bad topstitcher. All tips welcome), added some giant rick rack and one of my nifty new labels and spent a few ridiculous minutes posing with a wooden spoon and thought about baking. But I didn’t.

[a 3 bear apron!]

This apron is part of my self-imposed boring project week. During September, I was focused on just getting enough outfits to get me through the month**. So now I have to play catch up. Sew some new PJs for me (ugh), mending, re-lining my winter coat and making an apron! And of course, working on my Lady Grey!

**BTW – the apron is the result of Self-Stitched September! After realizing that I don’t have to save my ‘good’ clothes for special occasions, I found myself yearning for a cute, flattering apron to go over everything instead of the boring butcher’s apron I’ve been using!