Friday Flaunt - Apron and Stockings

From the title of my post, you might think I'm making clothes for myself! Perhaps I am making clothes if you call a handyman apron clothing. I do expect the apron to prove so useful it will be something I regularly wear. I came across the "Retro Handyman's Apron" pattern on the Olfa website.

Being a bit barmy for palm trees, this print, purchased last year at Rainbow's End quilt shop in Dunedin, Florida, proved perfect for the apron pockets. The blue tone-on-tone fabric is another favorite: "Satinesque" by Patrick Lose. I'm pretty sure I thoroughly own it... in eight colorways! Rick-rack adds a nice touch. As I often do, you'll note I made the striped binding on the diagonal.

I sewed several sizes of pockets on the front, customizing them to suit the tools I want handy: rotary cutters, snips, tape measurer, 1" X 6" ruler, wash-out marker, and Chaco-liner. I'll probably poke a pencil in too.
If you make this pattern my suggestion would be to cut the pocket as a single piece, then fold it wrong sides together. The instructions have you cut two fabric pieces and in the next step sew them back together again making a top seam onto which you top-stitch rick-rack. (Huh?)

As for the stockings part of my post, it's another of the "Season of Grace" BOM by author Emilie Richards and quilter Pat Sloan. September's stocking is "redwork." Stitched words could be anything we choose, so my BOM-swap partner Mary and I agreed on "Peace on earth" (her words), and "Goodwill to all". Instead of redwork, our work is DMC #3799.

I've learned that when you're embroidering small words, the stem stitch doesn't work so well. Yes, I completely stem-stitched "Goodwill" and then unstitched it. Small words such as these are more legible in backstitch. There's always something new to learn, isn't there?

A post script for those of you who may be curious about my "Friday Flaunt." Friday Flaunt is the brainchild of Cinzia White, an Aussie who belongs to the Yahoo chat group, "Quilting Down Under," as I do. Cinzia suggested that QDU bloggers post a weekly flaunt of their quilting projects. Knowing that every Friday other quilters will be looking for one's weekly quilt-y productivity is great motivation!

Find links to all 19 Friday Flaunters here.