Butterick 5474

My first skirt didn't quite inspire a high level of sewing confidence, so I thought I would attempt some smaller projects to build up my skills.  (Note: not all objects that seem easy, or are labeled as "easy" are in fact easy.  Just like when I tell my mother that doing something involving an electronic device is "easy" only to end up teaching her the first step for all eternity, like click on "send" to send that email).  Thankfully, aprons are actually fairly simple, but I was sooooooo wrong about making purses (blog post coming soon).

Enter Butterick 5474, an apron.  Aprons have to be easy, right?  And totally useful as something that I forget to actually use until after I'm covered in sauce or grease.  I did actually remember to use it last week when I was pitting cherries (score 1 for me, about 500 for food splatters), so i can vouch for its clothes-protecting skills.

I also want to point out that this was my first experience at a pattern sale at Joann Fabrics.  O. M. G.!!!  I officially have a problem now and need some kind of therapy for overbuying patterns, but from all of the blogs I read I have noticed that others also have this problem, so therefore I have decided it is NOT a problem because that many people can't be wrong!  Right?  Right.  (Don't mess with us. Our hobby involves sharp objects).

I chose to make the full-length option with the bias-tape around the edge, which brings me to my first lesson that I learned in the making of this apron: there is something called bias tape.  And if you google it, you find many links to tutorials for how to make bias tape, but you don't really find a whole lot that says "hey, you can buy this for super cheap at a craft store so you don't have to spend hours making it yourself."  Nope, must have missed those links because I thought bias tape was something I had to actually make.  So make I did out of some fabric that I thought was very complimentary to my main fabric.

Now I know that I could have spent about a buck and a half on plain black bias tape.  (*breathe, go to your happy place*).  I'm so grateful for the learning experience of making my own bias tape so that I appreciate more how it works when I buy it at the store in bulk now.  It's kind of a shame that I used this technique on an apron that I mostly forget to even use, but I know how to do it if I need a more unique touch on something I make (*cough won't happen cough*).

All in all, this was actually a pretty easy project after all and maybe if I leave post-it notes on all of my cookbooks saying "WEAR AN APRON, DUMMY!!" I will remember to use it more often.  Probably not though as I have a bad habit of ignoring things once I get used to them being there.  C'est la vie!