Brown & Green Apron Tutorial

Another apron tutorial!

 This is the last of the three aprons I made to wear to Terri Brush's Art Camp. You can find a tutorial for my Denim Prairie apron here and one for my Black & White Apron here.

Life before apron

A thrifted blouse with interesting bodice detail

 and a lined skirt with pockets.

Each $2.50

Step 1 - Cut the sleeves away from the blouse. Cut the back away making sure to leave some fabric around the back of the neck. Cut off the lower portion of the blouse front.

Finish the lower edge with a rolled hem.

Confession time... I had not planned on this next step. My plan was to keep the front of the skirt in tact but I accidentally started cutting in the wrong place. Oops! So I just came up with a new (secret) idea...more on that in step 5!

Step 2 - Make two cuts in the front of the skirt.

  

Finish the edges with a top-stitched rolled hem.

  

Fold the waist band over so that the edges of the middle panel line up with the edges of the side panels and stitch to secure.

 

Inside view

Outside view

Step 3 - Cut the back of the skirt away at the side seam and along the waistband. Finish the side edge with a rolled hem.

 

Step 4 - Cut the sleeves to use to accent the pockets. (like the one on the left of the photo)

 Pin the sleeve in place inside the pocket.

 

Turn the pocket inside out and stitch the sleeve into place.

 

Trim the excess fabric and zigzag the edges.

 

Finished pocket close-up

Step 5 - Pin the upper third and the lower third portions of the top-stitched edges to overlap.

Pin the lining fabric to keep it from shifting.

 Stitch through both fabric layers along the seams in the pinned areas and along the bottom edge of the lining between the seams. (It's difficult to see the stitching in the photo)

 This creates a secret pocket!
If I make a quick trip to the craft store,
I'll have a place to stash money!

Step 6 - Pin the bodice in place on the skirt and pin the sides and neck of the bodice under to form the bib. 

 

Unpin the bib from the skirt and trim the edges.

 Finish the edges with a rolled hem.

Pin the bib to the skirt.

Stitch the bib in place.

 

Step 7 - Cut a rectangle from the front button section of the unused bodice (the portion that was cut away in step 1). Fold all the edges under and stitch.

 Stitch it to the end of a waistband section.

 Sew velcro to the end of each waistband section for a closure.

Step 8 - Gather the bib straps and hand sew a strip of the skirt fabric over the gathers. Replace the brown buttons with green ones.

 

 I'm not sure which of my three art camp aprons I like best.

This one...

Or maybe this one...

 And then again, this one is pretty cute too!

Which one is your favorite?

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Going Green!

One of my designs is going green with Green Craft magazine!

Dressed Up Pearls from my "A Girl and Her Shoes Series"

is featured in the Autumn 2012 issue of Green Craft Magazine.

This necklace is so easy to make. I just cut the leather flowers from a pair of sandals, embellished them and then wired them onto vintage pearl strands. You can find out more about this necklace here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Metal Mania

I'm a bit of a metal maniac...love it...all of it! I'm especially drawn to mixed metal pieces with aged and rustic patinas. They have the feel of warmth and I seem to be able to imagine a story behind them that gives them character and charm.

I don't have to imagine the story behind this piece. I already know it...I created it.

Last night I went into my work room with the intention to get started on some basic wire working tutorials to share here with all of you. As often happens, I was sidetracked when I spotted a napkin ring that I had picked up at a thrift store several months ago

(eight rings for only $2).

I used half the napkin ring and two pieces of broken jewelry from my stash to create this pendant; three dangles from the earring and two copper ring links

(not pictured since I didn't take any before photos).

I hammered half the napkin ring to flatten it out a bit - not completely flat as it would have broken from the stress - I did hammer the ends flat though. As you can see from the photo below, the ring did begin to crack a little from the stress but not enough to compromise the strength of the piece. I think it just adds to the character of the piece.

I smoothed the edges and roughed up the surface of the piece.

This removed most the silver exposing the brass underneath.

I soldered on the copper rings.

I connected the metal dangles with rivets that I forged from copper wire.

Finally, I created a heavy patina. I wanted the pendant to look as though

it could have been a found object from hundreds of years ago.

I loved the pendant and did not want to distract from its rustic beauty with a fancy chain so I added a simple oxidized copper chain which allows the pendant to take center stage.

I still plan to put together those tutorials on basic wire working techniques. If you are interested in learning how to make jump rings, wrapped loops, beaded links, and hook clasps, be sure to return soon. I will begin posting those tutorials in a couple of days.

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Spider - part five of "a Girl and her SHOES" series

Welcome to part five of  "a Girl and her SHOES" series. If you missed the original post, you may want to check it out here to see what inspired this series.

The working title for this redo was Spider. My reasoning for the working title will become clear a little later in the post. I realize that Spider is not a very attractive name for a necklace but since it is so close to Halloween, I decided to stick with it!

The Shoes. A very unique pair of sandals that I just couldn't pass up.

The first thing I did was cut the leather straps away from the sole. I played around with the shape for awhile until I got the idea to create a copper wire frame that the straps could attach to. I cut the straps down to a reasonable size and this is what I ended up with.

 

Okay, my working title is making sense now!

I attached the straps around the frame and wired on some metallic stick pearls for that needed bit of bling. Finally, a couple of the tiny buckles (also from these sandals)

became interesting additions to the copper chain and handmade hook clasp.

 

Normally I wouldn't think of allowing a spider to crawl around - or even come close - to my neck, but I'll happily make the exception for this Spider!

Tomorrow will be the final shoe transformation in "a Girl and her SHOES" series. (At least until I find time to visit the thrift stores!) I hope you will return!

 

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