First Day of Spring!

It's sunny this morning, and hang the weatherman who says we are getting 3-5 inches of snow tonight! I say spring is coming!

I'm updating my Apron Site today and I came across this wine cozy while looking for new images for the Custom section of the site. I created it for the same gal who received this apron for her wedding last June. Now that I think about it, the mini apron was a gift for the groom, who is a wine lover.

I'm on a break from freelancing right now, and enjoying the time off. Derby Lite is skating twice a week now, Tuesday evenings and Sunday afternoons. I don't think I have been this fit since I rowed crew in college (that's me 4th from the right). Click on the picture to see the full size image - and the exertion/fear in my face - I was probably thinking about "crabbing" - catching my oar in the water and getting whacked with it!


I hope it's feels like spring is coming where ever you are - snow tonight or not, it's coming soon!

Little Red Hen is Finished!

I finished "Little Red Hen" - the custom apron I have been working on. I'm really pleased with the way it came out. The time I put into it was more than I had planned on, but I enjoyed working on it and I did most of the embroidery on the train, which for some reason is more enjoyable - why is that? Maybe because it feels like free time. Another benefit is that embroidering on the train is very relaxing - a good thing since I'm on my way to and from work.

The four chicks on the apron stand for the 4 children of the woman who will be receiving the apron. I like the way the portraits of the animals came out. Here's where "google image search" really comes in handy! After I find good images I take them into illustrator and draw outlines - get them about the same size - then print them out onto cardstock and make stencils.


I had a couple of weeks to complete this apron (I got the commission at the same time I got the order for the PIE aprons) and I managed my time well. I like to do a little bit everyday - cut out all of the bodies, cut out all of the ties, make all of the pockets, etc. I never felt overwhelmed. With the Little Red Hen apron I embroidered the bib first (after I cut out the body), then moved on to the Hen pocket and chicks. I made them, pinned them down, and planned out the remainder of the embroidery. Once I finished that I sewed the hen and chicks in place, and finally constructed the apron. I'm looking forward to hearing from Molly, who commissioned the apron for her mom.

It looks like my freelance job might be ending for a while, so it's a good thing I got over to Sew Particular this week. I had an interesting meeting with the owner yesterday. I look forward to what might come of it...

PIE Aprons Done!

I finished the aprons for PIE, the upscale pie shop in Chicago. Dara, one of the owners, contacted me after seeing the Daily Candy post in mid-January. The PIE folks want to have aprons to sell in the store, and possibly for the employees to wear as well. The black apron was my 3rd and most successful attempt. They really liked the blue and brown one below too - but we all felt the black one will sell better. The inspiration for the black apron came from a lunch bag I made for myself a few weeks ago. I made a simple square pillowcase bag, then made a tab closure - "wow! - that would make a cute apron detail!" I usually like buttons and tabs to actually function, but a functioning button tab on an apron would just be distracting, it's not like you really have anything in an apron pocket that's going to fall out!

This week I'll be seeing Vivian at Sew Particular in Oak Park about the possibility of them making some aprons for me. I'm so curious to talk to her, and see what she thinks of my aprons, and the possibility of having them made in her shop.



I made good progress on the "Little Red Hen" apron this week also. The embroidery work on that one is a little more time-intensive than I planned for, but I am excited about it - it's a fun project - and that makes the extra time worth it to me. Below is a shot of the embroidery on the bib. The red copy is easier to read than it appears here. The hen is asking for help with the wheat - below the animals (dog, cat, duck) will be saying NOT I! and the hen's chicks will be eating bread crumbs.

In Progress

I got a custom order request from a gal named Molly. She wondered if I might be interested in making an apron that tells a story? Well yes I would! This is the story of the little red hen. She's trying to get some help with the wheat: who will help me plant the seeds? harvest? grind the wheat? bake the bread? All entreaties are met with a "Not I" from the duck, the cat, and the dog.

Who gets to eat the bread?? Only the hen and her 4 chicks (Molly and her siblings).

The hen will be a pocket, I think the remainder of the elements will be embroidered. The duck, cat, and dog are not concepted yet - but I think they will appear as little head shots in boxes opposite the hen. They will be saying "NOT I!" in unison.

This is a far cry from what I did yesterday - I was in a parade with my roller derby club "Derby Lite". Unfortunately I was a little busy yesterday (I met with the people at PIE to review the aprons I made for them in the morning) and just totally spaced my skates! I ended up walking with the group - which worked out nicely since I was able to get these fun photos! Also, TerminAda and I swapped her skates for my fat babies after the parade, and 5 of us skated back through the parade back to the staging area - so I got to skate after all!

The best banner in the parade! Poppy Z Fite, one of the Derby Liters made it. That's Dyna-Mo and TerminAda carrying it.

OK, Ready Now!

I just updated Practically Necessary tonight! I spent most of the weekend photographing the new aprons, and preparing the Illustrator files (that's how my site was created - with pages in Illustrator imported into Dreamweaver as jpegs. In Dreamweaver I just add all of the hotspots (links). Updating the site can be a little cumbersome, but I can do it myself, and I'm pretty happy with the results.

I really wanted to get the new Who's Counting apron on the index page - I was so focussed on getting it just right, that I failed to notice that two of the aprons on the home page have black pockets! A little design redundancy - still, I like all of those images for the homepage, so I'll leave it for now.

New Styles - Almost Ready!

This "calorie" fabric is a reproduction of a print I have on a vintage hankie - it's exactly the same, though the colors are a little different. Seemed like perfect apron fabric!


The original batch of Kitty-kitty aprons (there were 6) all sold. I think this black and white fabric does the trick for version 2. It's tricky to find a print that goes well with the ric-rac (not too big, not too small).

So many people have asked me if I have cherry fabric - I finally found one I really like! This one has such a pretty gray background with lemons, and lemony drinks - Perfect for summer entertaining! I embroidered cherries on the pockets–it's available without them too. I think I need to find a spot on the site to point out that I can embroider on almost any apron I offer. A few people have emailed and asked about embroidery on other styles - that's how the monograms on Barbara Ann and Libby came about.

Folks Dance

I have finally caught up with the orders I received from the Daily Candy post. We all recovered from the nasty virus that is going around, so I have had a little time to get some new aprons working. Part of the fun with each new apron is designing the page for the website. Each apron page is a little different, designed to highlight whatever is special about that style. I love the border on this gray fabric. I only have enough fabric to make two of these - I wish I had more so the page would have a longer life, but I love this apron so I want to get it out there!

Next on the agenda is to finish the aprons I am designing for a pie shop called PIE in downtown Chicago. They would like aprons to sell in the shop, and possibly aprons for the employees to wear. I have a couple of cute half aprons, but I still need to design a full apron for a man to wear. I went to Vogue fabric yesterday and found a beautiful butterscotch color cotton with a little heft to it - I think it will work nicely for that one. Will post those designs soon.

Evelyn's Order

Practically Necessary was featured in the Chicago Edition of Daily Candy last Wednesday - Wonderful news! The wrinkle was that I came down with the worst cold that day - and it just got worse and worse. I was sitting at my computer Wednesday morning (most of the orders came in berfore noon) with just enough energy to monitor the orders and update my site as the one-of-a-kinds sold. By the weekend the ENTIRE family had come down with it - it was almost funny (but felt so AWFUL!)

A gal named Evelyn ordered 3 of my favorite aprons - I was so delighted when I found the "E" hankie in my collection in include in her order - I hope she loves it!

I let most of my customers know what happened, and everyone was just fine with waiting a few extra days for their order. Today the kids are still recovering so I'm getting some orders finished and ready to ship. I can't work tonight though... it's DERBY NIGHT!

Derby Lite Embroidery

Here's the Derby Lite logo (thanks to Coco BangBang for designing it) I just finished embroidering on my jean jacket. Rollerskating with this great group of women has been the best thing to happen to me in a long time - we are all having so much fun! Thanks so much to my friend Queen B, a former Windy City Roller (she skated with The Fury) who started Derby Lite.

I'm still undecided on my Derby Name - but I think I'm going with "Screamin' Mimi" - I'm such a screamer!

Here I am at Derby practice - working on my skills!

I might get really ambitious and embroider another image on top of the logo - a akating gal, or a winged skate - not sure yet.

Emily's Pillow

I made a pillow and pillowcase for Emma, a good friend of my son Leo. Emma has an American Girl doll named Emily.

That's the quilt I made for Emma's doll Emily last year. (pictured here with MY Emily!)


I used vintage pillow ticking to make the pillow, and I hand embroidered the case. I had so much fun embroidering the pillowcase, that I started another project I'll be ready to show off in just a few days - it's an embroidery of the logo from my Roller Derby group on the back of my favorite Levi's jean jacket - roller skating has made me feel so great - and I'm pretty sure wearing my jean jacket adorned with embroidery will REALLY take me back!

Hand Pieced Doll Quilt - Vacation Project #2

I went home (Saginaw, Michigan) for a holiday visit - and I made it two days before I had to rush to Joanne and buy some fabric - I just had to MAKE something! My mom does not have a sewing machine so I pieced it by hand - something I loved to do when I had hours of free time (B.C.) I used flannel rather than batting and I machine quilted it. I took it over to Piper's house last night, her Mom Sara just bought a doll bed at a church sale, so my timing was really good!

Detail of Piper's Doll Quilt. I used a few of my fancy stitches to quilt the solid squares.

The pillow-ticking print was the first fabric I found at Joanne - I picked the other prints to go with it, but it ended up as the backing only - too busy to really go with the other fabrics. I embroidered Piper's initials on the back.

Christmas Vacation Project #1

I started this capelet on Christmas Eve. The plaid fabric is from an extra large men's Pendleton shirt I thrifted last year. I used McCalls # M5006 view G. I had hoped to make the whole front out of the plaid, but I just didn't have enough so I used the gold velvet I had in my stash for both the sides and back (the fabric I used to make this hat). The pattern called for a ribbon tie, but I substituted a button with a tab. I used some of my Chinese lantern lining fabric for the lining, and I thought it needed interfacing so I used white flannel for that purpose.

My husband Marc thought is was goofy right off and just kept looking at me funny while I was working on it - he's usually a good judge so I was unsure of myself until I wore it on a visit home. It was a good traveling garment: it kept me comfortable on the train ride from Chicago to Ann Arbor (and back again), and I got a lot of compliments - one man on the train said "what is that you're wearing - what do you call it? - I love it!" After all of the positive feedback I got from Wardrobe Remix, I think Marc just doesn't get it!

Crown button from my mom's button stash.

Custom Kitty Complete!

I finished the Custom Kitty-Kitty on Friday morning. Delivering the finished product is one of my favorite things! Tracey (the client) is so excited to give it to her sister in-law Sharon for her birthday. Sharon's birthday is New Years Eve. I hope she likes it! The pictures I took of the back didn't come out, but this one has black ties to go with the waistband. The waistband has one of my Viking decorative stitches at the top. The kitty faces are lined in black and white gingham.

Each one of my aprons comes with a tag with it's story and care instructions, see the Kitty-Kitty tag below. (Click on the image to
see it full size).

Custom Kitty-Kitty

I'm making a custom apron for the sister in-law of a woman I work with named Tracey. Tracey liked my Kitty-Kitty apron but she wondered if I could customize the pockets to look like her sister in-law's cats. I made simple appliques of the cats orange splotches and then embroidered the faces. Next I lined the pockets with an extra piece of creamed colored fabric because I wanted to face them with black and white gingham. I'm pretty pleased with my progress so far. The red fabric will be the body of the apron, and it will have a black waistband with red topstitching. Tracey and I will collaborate on the name and the story of the apron - that's always part of the fun, and a big part of what makes a custom apron special.

It Was A Very Good Year (1965)

I just finished this one of a kind apron. The pockets are made from a vintage Vera linen calendar. It was unfinished on the rack when I had my sale last week, but it sold to a gal named Marian who I met at a house sale this summer. Marian had a bag of notions in her hand and when I asked her where she found them she handed them to me and told me I could have them! When we met later in line we chatted a little I told her about my apron business. She saw the article about me in the Wednesday journal and came by the sale with her daughter Rosie. Marian bought 2 of my one of a kinds, and Rosie bought 2 holiday aprons. It really made my day! I am off to deliver "1965" this afternoon.




The back view. I like to use contrasting ties whenever possible.


I cut the calendar in half to create 2 roomy pockets.

Puglyfeet's Purchase!

One of my flickr friends, Puglyfeet, posted about my change purses in her blog - unfortunately they were sold out at the time, so she couldn't order one. I made a bunch in preparation for my sale but only sold one so I put them up in my etsy shop and sent her a note to let her know I had posted some more. When I checked in with my shop just a little while later, she and her boyfriend had bought them all! I posted a few more the next day, and they snapped those up too! It's going to be a Practically Necessary Christmas for Puglyfeet's friends and family!

Finding Inspiration in Laura Ingalls Wilder

I just read "These Happy Golden Years" by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It tells the story of Laura's teen years, her first time teaching, and her courtship with Almanzo. There are so many passages in the book about sewing, and the many wonderful clothes that Laura made for herself. The descriptions are fantastic, and really make me want to go on a pilgrimage to the various Ingalls Wilder museums. I immediately followed with "The First Four Years", the story of her first years as a married woman. What a wonderful book. The manuscript was found with her papers after her death and wasn't published until 1971 (28 years after Those Happy Golden Years). How wonderful it must have been for the people who had read her books and thought they had read them all!

I think I have found the story for my next narrative quilt. It's just starting to form in my mind. I think I will focus on her life from 13-20. Beginning with the trip to the Shores of Silver Lake. I have some ideas for images to include - but no real plan yet. Just the thought that the story is interesting enough to me, and full of enough imagery to justify making a quilt from it - I'm excited by that alone!

Pa bought the sewing machine as a surprise for Ma (and all his girls).

Mae's Busy Weekend

Mae made 3 softies from Therese Laskey's book Softies this weekend. She made the Treeling yesterday, and the Lonely Dollop and the Cross pin cushion today (I love her use of color on that one!) We highly recommend the book - the directions are clear, and the projects are super-cute. I searched the internet for wool felt and found Colonial Crafts - their 12x18 pieces 20% wool and 80% rayon, and are $1.25 a piece. Well worth it when you compare it to acrylic craft felt. Mae had cut out a couple of leaves from some craft felt and brought them over to me with a leaf cut from the wool felt and said "we can't use this - look how thin it is!" The colors are rich and they make softies with really nice body. I hope she makes the whale next!

Craft Sale Update

My first craft sale went pretty well. It was a long day, sitting there behind that table from 10-4 was a little more than I bargained for. Many thanks to my friends who stopped by, it made all the difference. Kerri, the first person to purchase "Cockadoodle" bought the 3 remaining wishing well change purses. The wristlets were a hit too - good thing I made 3 more on Saturday!

Afterward we went out to our favorite Italian Restuarant - Ambrogio's. It's in the 6700 block of Belmont in Chicago. Great food, a real family restaurant (with a bar), but cash only - you'll need to remember that if you go (there's a sign on the front door in case you forget!)

At the craft sale I decided there is enough interest to have an open house at my studio (our living room!) the Saturday before Thanksgiving - that was a good day for me last year. If you are in the area (email me for specifics), I hope you'll stop by - November 18th from 11-3.

Craft Sale Tomorrow!

I'm participating in the Oak Park Women's Exchange Art & Craft Fair at OPRF high school. The school is at 201 N. Scoville in Oak Park. I will have many new apron styles (including the one above, called "April" - thanks to Mae for the name!) I have a lot more full styles this year - including "Florence", which was designed for people who like to bake (and appreciate 70s kitchen textiles - check out that print!)

It has a small pocket, and a divided pocket on the body - with a slot for a spoon. I also have a mother daughter set of my skull apron Callie.

I have a Christmas apron this year - Noelle seemed like a good name for that one!


You can see more pictures on my flickr page. If you are in the area, I hope you'll stop by and see me at the Craft Fair at 201 N. Scoville in Oak Park tomorrow. It runs from 10-4, and there is a $3 entry fee - which I will take off your order if you mention this offer on my blog!