Finished apron & shout out to Grandma.

I finally finished this Heather Bailey apron pattern that I won from Don't Call Me Betsy last month!  I love how it turned out. 

The fabric is Blue Darjeeling Tea Garden, by Dena Designs for Free Spirit Fabrics.  The large print on it is perfect for a bigger girl like me.  I do have to admit, I was a little worried about it fitting me- it's been a while since a "large" fit me, but it was just right.  Actually, when I finished sewing it was too large in the chest, and the sides of the halter kinda flapped around.  How in the world did that happen?  Luckily once I washed it, the apron shrunk to the perfect size, so no more awkward side-boob pockets.

Now, I'm not an expert sewist (sew-er?  Because otherwise it looks like sewer, and ew... gross) mind you, in fact, I'm pretty much a beginner.  But there were just a couple little things I'd do differently next time.  The patter calls for the halter to be sewed, then the halter straps to be inserted (same process for the waistband).  I think it would look better if the straps were sewn to the main pieces, then the main pieces sewn.  I could be wrong, it could be impossible to turn right-side out that way, but it was awkward for me to do it this way.  Other than that, the patter was super easy to read, and turned out beautifully!!  Love-it!

Now, a little shout-out to my Grandma, who passed away almost 6 years ago now.  Grandma had many sewing boxes.  Most of them are beautiful, delicate, floral covered baskets, exactly what you would expect a grandma to have.  But, she also had this beast (my current box is behind it):

She was a very well-off woman.  Really, she could've bought the sewing box of her dreams  But I love that

she had this, and kept and used it.  The top is cracked, and the main part of the box is a very groovy avocado green.  I found this at my mom's house when I was in desperate need for some brown thread.  I looked in (no kidding) 5 other sewing boxes before finally finding this one.  At the very bottom of the box, still in the packaging, was this:

It's a horrible photo, but it is the perfect shade of brown to match the coat zipper that I was fixing!  At the time it felt very much like she bought it just for me and left it there waiting.  I just about cried when I found it.  In addition, was the perfect thread to match the apron above, and these:



How cool is that?!?  Also in the box were some crazy Christmas applique cut-out fabrics.  It just so happened that I mentioned some of these would be perfect for an ugly Christmas sweater party within an hour of finding them.  So, I want to say thank you to my grandma.  It may be silly, but finding the threads and appliques all when needed just seems to be a little sign from her that maybe, just maybe I'm on the right path here.  It kinda feels like Mary Poppins magic carpet bag, that just happens to have everything that I need in it.  I will be hanging on to this for a very, very long time.