Repurposed sewing

 Our older son is currently living in Amarillo, Texas. Amarillo has weather of extremes. While we were visiting, one morning it was below freezing in the morning when my son and I walked to his building's gym and later that day the thermometer topped 80.  These days I will often check the weather in Amarillo. Earlier this week both the temperature and the wind chill in New York and in Amarillo were exactly the same. You don't have to be amused by that fact, but I am.

Right now the big concept in the universe of sewing is repurposing. Every day there are videos that cross my feed of people who make dresses out of 1970s sheets, or turn blankets into streetwear or vintage embroidered tablecloths into blouses.

Years ago I purchased a length of Ikea fabric that has been a work horse table cloth. You probably have seen this cloth dozens of times as the background for a food post or behind a sewing project. The cloth has been washed and ironed countless times and had gotten both thin and a bit stained. I thought that it was time it was retired.

My husband is fond of the cloth and wondered if I was doing the right thing. 

The cloth really WAS thin.  I have preciously made a couple of  aprons using

Francis Bondin's brilliant idea from a 1949 "Smart Sewing" brochure. I just love the darted waist and the ruffles are both silly and useful. I wear an apron primarily for bread baking and I love how the deep ruffles keep the flour off of my clothes.

This apron that  had made in 2011 is about to be pitched into the rag bin.

So I turned the old Ikea tablecloth into this.

The fabric was so thin that I doubled up the fabric on the main body of the apron.

If you want to make such an apron for yourself here is the basic outline.

1. Cut a 22 inch square of fabric. If you are shorter than I am or don't need an apron that provides as much coverage, cut your square smaller.

2- Hem your square. Then fold down one corner of the square. This is the top of your apron.

3.Add the darts

4.Cut ruffle fabric 4x the length of the bottom two edges of the square. Hem all four edges. I made pleats by turning the fabric with a fork. You can see the technique below.

. It's a nice way to make pleats if you don't need super precision.

5- add ties for the waist

Then add one for the neck

That's it.

I just kneaded a new batch of bread in the apron. My clothes are not covered in flour.

Today I also replaced the elastic in a skirt.

It's a little job that I had been putting off for a few months.

The skirt is wearable once again.

And in more news that no one cares about,  I finished this phase of pillow making for my lobby. The three square pillows are my work and the two rectangular lumbar pillows will be done as they decline into shabbiness.

And if any of you wanted to know what the inside of a challah that has been rolled with spices looks like---this is it.