I decided to line the bib with the striped fabric, the same one I was using for the elastic casing at the top. Now that I think about it, I believe I also made the casing strip slightly wider than the pattern. My main guide in deciding how wide, was the width of the elastic I had on hand. I used a one inch wide, 10 inch long strip of non-roll elastic. This elastic is thicker than other types but I figured it would help to keep the elastic from folding in on itself.

I pressed the casing in half lengthwise and the pressed the folded edges to slightly larger than my one inch elastic. I placed the casing around the top edge of the bib and pinned it in place making sure the pins caught both side of my casing. Then I stitched along the very edge of the casing to secure it to the bib.

I inserted the elastic, pressed the folded and turned under edges of the neck ties and attached them to the bib.

Next it was on to the midriff pieces. I didn’t take photos at each step, but the sequence was as follows.

I gathered the bib bottom and sewed it to front midriff piece, then I gathered the skirt top and sewed that to the front midriff also. Next I sewed the inside midriff piece to the bib.

At this point I sewed the waist ties up, pressed them and sewed them to the midriff sides. With the midriff backing piece still loose I remembered to sew on my “Handmade by” tag on the inside.

Now all that was left was to fold and press the seam edges closed. I turned the a few inches of the bottom unsewn edge of the midriff inside out and sewed them together. I pulled everthing back right side out and put a closing top stitching all around the midriff piece

Here’s a look at the inside of the finished apron.

And me modeling it.

I didn’t mention it before, but I made the large size, which isn’t really that large. I like very much how it turned out. There are a few more things I would do differently next time, but I will definitely make this Pretty Ditty apron again.

After seeing quite a few different versions of this apron and how truly pretty it always appeared I quickly ordered the pattern. Fortunately I got it in the mail very quickly which allowed me to go straight out to my local Joann Fabric store to find some pretty coordinating cottons. I found all sorts of lovely cotton fabric resources on the web but it was too late to order anything else online and get it quickly enough. My fault for waiting until the last week before Christmas to make it.

I forgot to take a picture of my coordinating fabrics before cutting them, but here they are before I had done much of the sewing.

I chose three fabrics for the apron, a large floral pattern in pink and yellow, a stripey yellow and a small pink print fabric. I think the pattern is designed for two fabrics if your are doing the single sided one and three fabrics if you are making the reversible version. I had planned on the single sided apron, but still decided to coordinate three fabrics for this. I used the large floral for the front skirt and bib, the yellow stripe for the elastic casing on the bib, for the small ruffle on the bottom and for the ties. I also ended up lining the bib with it. I used the pink print for the two front pockets, the neck ties and the midriff piece.

I made some slight changes when I cut out the pieces. I added half an inch to the width of the neck ties as well as half an inch to the width of the ruffle. Considering the half inch seam allowances they both seemed a bit skinny to me so I added the extra width. I also cut the apron tie open at the center front where the pattern it indicated it should lay on a fabric fold. I thought it was a typo, thinking that surely there had to be two separate ties that attached at the midriff sides. Later I found out that there is an error in the pattern concerning the length of the ties. They really should be cut much longer and if constructed according to the pattern, indeed the tie is in one piece

If I had read through the instructions first I would have realized that the construction calls for the tie to pass through the midriff piece as though this was a casing. In this case the tie really does need to be cut with the center front on the fabric fold and both long ends would extend out from inside the midriff.

I don’t mind having two tie pieces, since I didn’t really like the idea of inserting the ties through the midriff. I do regret not having realized that the ties were still rather short at this point. It would’ve been nice to be able to wrap them around the front as is shown on the pattern envelope.

The first thing I did was to sew the pockets on the skirt front and then hem this piece all around. Next I made the ruffle and attached it to the front of the skirt. This was actually the most time consuming part of the whole construction.

I pieced the two ruffle strips together, folded over the edges, and stitched a small hem all around.

I marked a crease down all the middle of the ruffle to guide where my gathering stitching would go.

And then attached the ruffle per the instructions. Here I am gathering and pinning the ruffle to the skirt.

Download the manual in pdf format here.

I’ve had this pattern forever and over the years have made it for different family members. A few years ago I decided it would be nice to make a robe for myself, so I bought a lovely blue cloud patterned fleece. Well it had been sitting in my sewing room since then.

Early this year I made the resolution that I would finish it before another winter passed and I actually did finish it about a month ago, just in time for the cool weather.

Here are a few progress shots. The pattern is pretty easy to make. The shawl collar saves you a bit of sewing and it’s easy to trim with piping and to sew the facings on. Here I am putting the top stitching on the shoulder seams after attaching the back of the collar to the back neck.

No facings on the collar yet. I just wanted to see if I needed to trim back the shoulder pieces a bit. The shoulder should drop quite a bit on the robe for a loose comfortable fit, so I left it as it was.

Next step was to put the piping on the collar.

Here the piping and the facings are on the collar and it’s looking good.

After serging the front raw edges of the facing I attach the facing along the back neck and shoulder of the collar by hand.

Next I attach the sleeves. I like to press as I go, it helps you to judge if things are shaping up correctly.

The sleeves are on. At this point all I have left to do is attach the cuffs with another bit of detail piping, make the tie belt and loops and then mark and hem the robe.

Voila, a nice warm cuddly robe!

It’s good to be back!

Click on the picture to read all about my trip.

and an even newer art blog that includes all my non-fandom artwork.

Stop on by!

I’ve been doing my artwork, really in depth, not just the part of actually taking pencil or brush to paper, but the part of the creative process that involves spending long periods of time reading my art books, sketching, just daydreaming on possible compositions or planning my next project. With my favorite music playing on my stereophonic headphones or playing in the background on my little music system, I can just let my imagination fly.

Right now Yo-Yo Ma’s cello is playing a haunting passages from some movie score. It is beautiful.

I have finished the Daniel Colourfix drawing in time to send if off to Ann Kullberg to include in next month’s member show. It was a long journey with this piece, but I feel it was time well spent. I learned a lot about using this paper with colored pencils. It has great potential for portrait pieces. This is the finished version.

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I started a couple of other pieces. I decided to finally try an ampersand Pastelbord that I bought maybe years ago. I’m still looking for that perfect surface to give me the results I want. My initial reaction was that it I like it even better that the Colourfix paper. It has less texture making it a little easier to get the smooth blending of colors that I trying to achieve in a portrait. And it handles blending of colors wonderfully. I can get pretty close to my goal of catching the subtle shadows and contouring realistically on the faces I draw. I’m still learning about this surface but so far it seems like a winner to me. Here is a picture of this project in work. Ironically I’m having more trouble with the background than with the face. It all comes down to having good reference material for me. I have a good reference for his face, not so much for the trees and clouds.

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On this next piece I’m using the Colourfix paper again, except that the colored pencils are Polychromos. The difference from the Prismacolor pencils are that the Polychromos are oil based while the Primacolor are wax based. I saw them at the Art Supply Warehouse when I went out there a few days ago. I had heard of the Polychromos and how beautifully the colors could blend. I seemed logical to me since they are oil based. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to give them a try. Maybe they would be like working oil paints but with the control that a pencil can give you. I bought a 36 pencil set and bought a few more pastelbords too.

I started this portrait with high hopes. The pencils are definitely softer and blend easier that the Primacolors. I feel that they are better suited for the Colourfix paper than the Prismacolor. They are very nice and I feel I can get some great results. They are not as wonderful as I anticipated but definitely give me more options for working the Colourfix. I started the portrait and then realized that my color palette was too limited with the 36 pencils. I reluctantly put it on hold while I order more portrait colors from DickBlick art supply. This Colourfix paper has a warmer tone which I think will make it easier to get normal looking flesh tones.

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To see work-in-progress commentary and pictures of some of these portraits go to my live journal page at:

Art, Supernaturally

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I won a couple of small ebay auctions yesterday too. They were for a cute little row counter and for 8 Trixie Belden books.

I’ll have to wait a while to get the books since the auction owner only accepts payment by check or money order. My check is now making it’s way to Connecticut. Once it gets there, I’ll still have to wait until it clears before my order is shipped. Oh well, I’m patient.

I have been curious about this store in general, since I’ve seen it referred to now and again as a nicely stocked yarn store.The Slipt Stitch is probably my best bet to find knitting supplies without having to travel very far. I bought two size 5 circular needles, one 32″ and one 42″ long. These should be more than enough to knit a large shawl comfortably. The Addi turbos are supposed to be the cadillac of lace knitting needles!

The store was very nice, full of books, yarn and all sorts of knitting supplies. It is a small shop, but still has room for a few tables and chairs in the front section. I’m sure that for local knitters this must be a fun place to come and knit and chat with the people who run the store.

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I did a little sewing. I worked on my latest pair of black pants which had to have the usual alteration of cutting down the crotch length. I removed the waistband and zipper the other day, but had been putting off sewing the zipper back in. I was stalling because it is an invisible zipper. The kind that looks great once it’s in but has to be put in with a special zipper foot and needs more wrangling overall to sew in.

Quite a few months ago I read somewhere that it was much easier to put on an invisible zipper if you had a proper heavy duty metal zipper foot and not one of the flimsy plastic jobs you can get at the neighborhood fabric stores. I took the advice and searched around for a nice metal invisible zipper foot that would fit my machine. It’s been waiting patiently for me to try it out. Well today I finally used it. I reviewed the process of putting in an invisible zipper and used my new zipper foot on my machine. It went on like a dream. No fuss or muss and the invisible zipper looks great, invisible. I feel empowered! Now I will be able to put invisible zippers in anywhere I want to. Yea!

Once I got through celebrating this small triumph, I left the pants and worked on the hem of this summer dress that I had ready to finish for some time. I used my old dependable dress form and hem marker which makes it a breeze to mark even hems, even on drapey material such as this one.

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I cut about three inches off the bottom. Now that it is cut I will use my cover stitch machine to put in a stretchy hem.

I didn’t do any reading today, but yesterday I did finish The Girl Sleuth book. It was an interesting read, especially now that I have so many of the Nancy Drew books again. It will be interesting to reread the Nancy Drew adventures knowing more about the authors that created her.

We grilled some steaks for dinner. I usually don’t eat red meat, but I figured it was a holiday and could afford to indulge. It was a great meal but heavy and we went for a walk a little later to burn off some of those calories. We strolled around the neighborhood just before sunset and realized that most people were beginning to set off their little firewords displays. We were glad to get back to the house as it was beginning to get noisy and we wanted to get the cats inside.

We managed to get everyone inside the house except Max, who hid from us as soon as the booms and shrieks really started. Sometime later he slunk in, looking frazzled, poor kitty!

Later in the evening still feeling full from the steak I had a nice walk on my treadmill. I managed to burn off 300 more calories, so I think that helped to offset my indulgence a little.

So much for our little midweek holiday. It was a quiet way to spend the 4th, but just our speed. I remember when I was a little girl, my family would walk to the Coliseum in Exposition Park, which was just a few blocks away from our house, to see the fireworks display. We would sit on the grassy park outside the stadium and enjoy a spectacular performance. Maybe someday when we live far from this crowded city we will seek out fireworks displays to watch again.