Aprons

Today I have a special treat for you. My mother is the keeper of our family's treasured heirloom aprons and is graciously sharing with us photos of them and some thoughts about both aprons and life.

Thanks, Mom!

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Some of my favorite childhood memories include the aprons that my mom, grandma, and aunties wore.  Back then it was a part of a lady’s working garment – the part that kept a lot of soil from landing on her dress.  I wish I had the apron that Grandma used to wear, or at least a picture to share. It covered the front of her dress from just below the neckline to nearly her hem.  It had a loop that went over the head and around the neck, then tied behind her back at the waist.  

Swimsuit Pocket

Recently I had the opportunity to do some sewing for a family friend.  She had a new swimsuit that needed a pocket sewn in for her mastectomy prosthesis.  This was a project I hadn't previously had an opportunity to do, so I was glad when she said I could share it with you all here on le interwebz.

She brought with her a kit that she had purchased for the purpose. The pocket I would be inserting was a soft piece of beige nylon/spandex knit fabric, finished at the edge with some serged on elastic.

 

Progress on Projects and a Recipe

January has been a busy month with a lot of small projects starting and a lot of large projects continuing or finishing up.  So I thought I'd share some of that with you.

 First off, I've managed to eke out some time to work on my corset. (last update was here) I re-cut all of my boning (reclaimed spiral steel bones from previous corsets) and replaced the tips. The only flat steels are the busk and the steels at center back on either side of the grommets.

Grey Cowl Shirt

This is the last of the posts on the holiday gifts I gave this year.  I've saved it for the end because it was one of my favorites. (Apologies in advance, most of the photos were taken before we got our new camera.)

You may remember last year I got this pattern from my wonderful husband as part of his anniversary gift for me:

Butterick 5710

Little Striped Dress

A few months ago when I started shopping for fabric for all of our holiday gifts I found and fell in love with this lovely seersucker.

Only, it's hardly even noticeable as a seersucker - the stripes are so tiny that it simply feels like a textured baby stripe.  The color was a pale purple with white stripes and I just had to have it for one of our nieces.

SOPA Blackout

There will be no SWD blog post today in protest of the proposed legislation in the US that would censor a great deal of user content on the web under the guise of preventing piracy. 

Infographic via American Censorship

This means facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia, blogger, wordpress, etc would all likely be shut down.

HOW SOPA CAN AFFECT YOU


January 18th, 2012 is the largest online protest in history, to stop the internet censorship bills, SOPA & PIPA. Join in by blacking out your site and urging everyone you can reach to contact Congress now.

I'm a Winner! (and some other stuff)

A while back I entered a giveaway on Patricia's Blog Cottonmouth.  She's a writer who I met through some friends and keeps le interwebz informed about her writing through her blog. So anyway, she was giving away this neat book that contained some of her stuff, so I entered the drawing, and I WON! Seriously, I was completely shocked. I am one of those 'I never win anything' people.

Today the mailman knocked on my door and brought me this lovely package!

Luna Scarves

A short post today due to the fact that I completely forgot to take pictures (/sigh...  really??!) of the scarves I made for my mother and stepmother-in-law for the holidays.

As usual I started with one pattern and then tweaked it a bit.  The pattern I used was the Luna Lovegood (a Harry Potter character for those of you not in the know) scarf pattern developed and graciously shared for free by pinkleo on crafster.

I really did try to make the pattern up as per the instructions at first.  I made up a small sample block to determine how wide the scarves would be and how many repeats I would need to get the length I wanted.

Three Snowflakes

My mother-in-law loves Christmas like nobody I've ever met.  So I wanted to make something special for her tree. My own favorite thing about winter is the beauty and intricate nature of snowflakes. So I made a set for her!

Snowman

Today I have a gift to show you from an area of sewing I only occasionally delve into these days, but thoroughly enjoy.

This was a gift for my grandmother. I used to make tiny ornaments for her tiny Christmas tree and wanted to continue with the idea of 'decorations.' However, she is trying to keep from collecting more things-that-take-up-space.  Then I remembered this cross stitch card decoration I have had for a while, just waiting for the right project and knew I had the perfect match.

Fleece Slippers

One of my favorite gifts to give is slippers.  It gets pretty cold here in the winter and if you wear slippers often at home they wear out quick enough to need a replacement every couple of years at least.

Last year I made a pair of slippers and liked how they turned out (sadly no pics of them to share).  So I decided to make more slippers this year.

The Man's Slipper