A Bluestocking Knits

Some time ago my mom gave me an apron pattern that my grandma had made from newspaper, which upon closer inspection I realized was the pattern for the apron Mom has had for just about as long as I can remember, so when I recently found a remnant I'd picked up somewhere that had a groovy late-60s vibe, I decided to make one for myself.

This red-and-black one is the original apron.  The newspaper doesn't have the date on it, but it has ads for "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" and "Airport" and "Song of Norway", which premieres-in-the-present-tense November 10, 1970.

I don't have very many things left that Grandma sewed — and she was a master seamstress, especially I remember at coordinating Easter dresses for us four cousins! but it seemed there was always something going on the sewing machine in her bedroom, and stray pins in the carpet — so this apron is fun for me to see her stitching.  She took a shortcut with the bias edging, and just sewed it on all at once with a zigzag stitch, but I don't hold that against her at all.  There is also a little, erm, digression on the button facing, but she was getting on for seventy by then!

Mom doesn't actually wear an apron that much any more, but this one obviously saw quite a bit of use back in the day.

Here is my version —

I made a few changes — I did make it longer than the paper pattern, as Grandma suggested, but first cut a 1 1/2" strip across the grain of the fabric at one end to use as the ties, then extended the length of the apron the full length of the remaining fabric.  (I prefer narrow ties on my aprons, but I found after wearing Mom's a few times that the narrow-bias-tape ties are too narrow for my liking.)  I made two pockets — why not, there were two pieces left from the armholes! — and cut the two little facing triangles from the selvedge edge so that I wouldn't have to hem them.  I also did a turned hem on the top of the pockets, instead of using the bias tape edging, and I did felled seams at the shoulder because I loves 'em.

The apron from my scant yard of remnant is just finger-length.  I should have made the straps a smidge wider, as they were just too narrow to sew them inside-out and turn them, which I prefer, but there it is.  I used two packages of narrow bias edging, with quite a bit left from the second package.

My stitching certainly isn't going to win any prizes — I can't seem to "stitch in the ditch" for anything, as the wobbly bits in these photos prove, but it's an apron, and I'm happy!

I did not plan, by the way, for the fabric pattern at the button closure to match so nearly perfectly! a happy accident, to be sure.