improving, i think

i hope it's apparent that this time it was moi, not the eight year old, who dove in and made another apron. i tried heather ross's "sunday hostess apron" from weekend sewing again. this time i chose the more kitschy/retro 60's-ish floral and graphic print combo in golds and pinks from alexander henry "in the kitchen" collection. last time, i didn't gather the skirt enough. this time i think i gathered too much and it's not quite wide enough to suit an adult, which is a bummer because i was making it for an adult. pooh!
there are times when i wonder if i'll ever get my sewing right. not perfect, mind you. just right.

something i did do right this go around that i am feeling rather pleased with myself about: i realized all on my own that in order to get my edge stitching as close to the edge as possible, i should move my needle to the farthest right position. so smart of me! (big smile on my face.) i love it when i actually know something or figure it out on my own.

on the first apron i made (top two fabrics) you can see i got near the edge on the tie (green fabric), but not really super close like i did on the second apron's ties (gold crosshatch fabric). and doing the tiny hem on the skirt was a lot more accurate and easy when i moved the needle over (red fabric, 1st apron; white & yellow fabric, 2nd apron). it's hard to keep the fabric moving through properly when it's not even touching one of the feed dogs. this time as i sat down to sew, i thought to myself, "you could get a lot closer to the edge and still have the fabric on the feed dogs if you would just adjust the needle position." i was so right. good job, me.

something i still didn't get right on my second piece: a smooth skirt hem.

you can see i have some gathers on the underside of the skirt hem due to excess fabric and trying to keep a smooth, even hem on the top side. in reality, i may not have done anything wrong, it may just be due to the way the pattern is drawn. you are supposed to do a tiny flip under on the skirt bottom then flip it up for a 5" hem. five inches seemed a bit deep to me, so i only did 3" instead. but the pattern is drawn in a tapered shape which means that when you flip it up several inches, it doesn't match up and the only way to make it match that i could figure was to have a few gathers in there. it all looks good on the front side, i just worry it looks wrong on the backside. which of course doesn't really matter except that i want to make this for someone and don't want it to look hokey, even from the backside.

in reality, i'm just glad to be done. i've not felt like making anything at all for the better part of 3 weeks. last friday i got myself geared up to make these aprons, but had to stop halfway through and couldn't get my gumption going again until today. i just made myself sit down and do it. now 'tis done. only it's not suitable for the person i'd intended it for. good thing my girls like it. truth is, i was going to make these aprons for my first five followers, but i'm not feeling too confident with how their turning out and may have changed my mind again. it's a vulnerable feeling, offering something handmade and imperfect to another soul. even if it is a gift.

the upshot of all this rambling is that my follower giveaways are still not done (over two months later) and i'm back to square one with what to make. really, what was i thinking volunteering to make something random? silly me. don't anyone worry too much or feel bad if you're supposed to be getting one. i'm not that stressed about it, i'd just like to make something simple and nice as a thank you and i'm having a hard time deciding what that will be. the headbands were easy, this one not as much. back to the drawing board and daydreaming.