It is my turn to share a while on the blog as Deb is going to be traveling.  And dear readers I am not apologetic in saying my world is pretty small because I am having so much fun with my time, just shopping for fabrics and sewing, so I doubt I will give you any awesome blog posts like Deb’s on Mother’s Day.  There I am bragging again

I sew at least 4-5 hours almost every day and never seem to tire of looking at something finished and exclaiming, “wow you are so cute” or touching a fabric and saying,  “you are so beautiful.”  Everyone always said my flower gardens flourished because I spoke only love words to them from the beginning of the season until the end.  A real lesson in choosing our words to bring life and encouragement to others.  Too bad I didn’t know that as well as I do now when raising my children Okay, on to what I wanted to share.

Really I am not here to promote our business but love sharing some of the unique opportunities that come our way.  Today I am shipping a custom order for a friend we made while visiting Warsaw, Missouri for a festival last year.  She found the fabric and asked me to make her the apron.  See what you think.

The fabrics are Michael Millers Gnomeville Border and the yellow is Michael Miller Gnomes.  Now this apron looks pretty simple but….the apron top layer that usually takes 1/2 yard took over a yard to get all that border visible.  The little gnome houses are not evenly distributed on the border, another dilemma that was very challenging for a while.  Finished apron will ship tomorrow morning and I hope she loves it.  Take a look at some of the close-ups of this adorable fabric…but please no more custom orders of this fabric…way too much wasted fabric for me.

Thanks for stopping by and hope everyone is having a wonderful week.

One of our favorite things to do is get a request for a custom order and work with the customer to select their fabric and colors and styles that they would like to see. It’s fun to see their ideas come to life. This past week we had an order for a  mother daughter apron set for a lovely jewelry artisan and her daughter.

She loves teal blues and chocolate browns together. So after sharing several fabric swatches we narrowed it down to this.

I like that we can use the same fabrics for mother and daughter yet give both of them their very own unique style too!

Mom’s apron is feminine with ruffles and ties that will look great with a bow in the front or back of the apron.

Oh and the little girl’s apron is so “girly” with all those ruffles and the sweatheart neckline. I wish I could see her 4 year old receive this gift. I bet her face lights up with excitement knowing she is going to get to help Mommy in the kitchen and look just like her.

I think this is a wonderful gift our friend is giving herself and her daughter for Mother’s Day. If you are interested in your own custom aprons, just let us know. We love collaborating with you to get the exact look and style you are after.

Remember this stash of Heather Bailey fabric I showed you?

Well here are some of the results although I’m still making more things with it too

And these coasters out of the scraps left over.

I’m always so happy when I’ve used up a batch of fabric, a great sense of accomplishment and I can actually see my results. What I do is very rewarding and makes me very happy and I feel really blessed by that.

If you are interested in having any of these items for yourself, you can find them in our Etsy shop or click on the photos above and it’ll take you to that item in the store.

The 96″ tie I turned and told you about yesterday….  Today you are in for a treat of treats…  Please hold the applause until the end

The apron is finished and I cannot resist showing you pictures, not because the apron is so swell….but the model…she is super, fantastic, fun, beautiful, and I am so glad I can call her my daughter.

Now you have to admit she is absolutely gorgeous!!!!  Not because of her attire but inside and out.

Get a load of this one I took while she was trying to give me instructions…

Now that was a shot we laughed about and loved…. We had so much fun.  She came prepared with white clothing knowing it would show well with any of the aprons she was modeling for me and get a load of those heels….I think my comments were, “where did you get those gorgeous shoes”, her answer to those kinds of questions is always a beautiful smile, and “I don’t remember.”

Check these out…

Now who could resist a cookie from that girl?

Then she really got domestic on me and wanted the swiffer, not like she is really cleaning folks, just having fun with me…I have to admit she definitely entertained me…  And you want to see the model’s shoes for this outfit..

It didn’t matter what we put on her, she looked great in everything…beautiful little girls are like that..

A wife and Mother to the nth degree with four beautiful children, a grandmother to one, a retired Sprint Director, former Hallmark computer wizard, a tech savvy lifesaver to the whole family, loves family, friends, home and garden, and most of all a special friend to her Mother….

I know all of you who have girls no doubt think they are the most beautiful but my three girls….they are so gorgeous, so special and I am so proud of all of them…  Thanks for letting me boast a little…

No, not a man’s tie!  An apron tie… I decided to try some new patterns out the first of the year.  I took a pattern idea out of a book and threw a few of my ideas into it and I am in the process of sewing it up after a day of figuring out the cutting…

The ties to the apron are 96″, yes that is ninety-six inches, long…why, because it wraps around and ties in the front.  I have observed the ties wrapped around to the front is a new look that is catching on and I wanted a shot at doing it.

This morning I put the ties together, two fabrics, one front and one on the reverse side.  Then it was time to turn them.  The ties are 3″ across but it still took me forever to get those long girls turned right side out and almost as long to get them to lay flat under the iron.

In the picture to the left the ties are folded in eighths.

The next picture on the right is in fourths.

And this picture on my 3 foot by 4 foot styroboard I use for photography!!

Big!!

And the one in the center of the board; that is the one I have left to turn and press. I was hoping someone might want to come help me

I hope the new apron is worthy of the price I will be putting on it to account for all of my labor not to mention the three yards of fabric!!  And I can already say, “I won’t be making it again, at least not this pattern!”

As Deb would say, “Go Sew Girl” and quit your whining, it’s a joke between us!

Remember the book I mentioned I needed to read “A is for Apron” by Nathalie Mornu?  I loved the material in it, not to mention the 17 patterns that were included.  The patterns are on 8″ x 8″  pages and require you to increase them by 400%.  First thought is a photocopier but the pattern is too big for that idea.

I remember watching my Mother cutting patterns out of newspaper so I decided it shouldn’t be too difficult for me to accomplish the same and began to gather my tools.  The most important one is the calculator!  Tissue paper leftover from a Christmas gift was perfect as it measured 24″ x 24″.  The tissue  paper  became the perfect element to draw the pattern on as the widest width measurement I would need was 18″.  I used transparent tape to put two sheets together giving me plenty of room for the entire project.

First step, measure the fold line length of the apron body as shown in the diagram and take it times 400%.  That calculation told me the length of the apron from neckline to hem would be 29″ at the center fold line.  Once I had this measurement I continued around the page as shown above  making notes of measurements at specific points, every 4″ to 9″ getting width measurements, etc.  I then was able to transfer those measurements to my tissue, making dots that later would be connected by free hand.  End result….a book that cost me $15.00 will reward me with 17 patterns if I elect to use them.  If you have purchased a pattern recently you know the savings using this method is big!  The project took me less than an hour and most of that time was spent on my calculations and measuring the dots on the tissue.

Notice how wrinkled my tissue paper is; my Mother would frown at me over that, she pressed the paper before she cut her patterns…  I have fabric in mind for the new pattern so keep coming back and I will show it off

Note:  Visit www.creativechcis.com to see all the new aprons added online this week…that is how I spent my cold vacation days, doing what I love most, creating.

I love aprons, they remind of my childhood.  They automatically conjure up memories of a kitchen filled with the aroma of bread baking or canning season and me and my Mother filling the jars.  I have sold almost every apron I have made for Christmas shopper’s and it thrills me to know so many little girls and bigger girls will be wearing them in their kitchens. I received an email about Grandma’s Apron recently and decided I wanted to share it so hope you enjoy it half as much as I did.

Grandma’s Apron

Author Unknown

The principal use of Grandma’s apron was to protect the dress underneath, because she only had a few dresses and it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and aprons used less material.
Frequently it served as a potholder for Grandma as she removed hot pans from the oven.
It was wonderful for drying children’s tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears..
From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.
When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.
And when the weather was cold grandma wrapped it around her arms.
Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.  Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.
From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables and after the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.
In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.
When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.
When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folks knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.
It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that ‘old-time apron’ that served so many purposes.
Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw.
They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.

What causes us to be so nostalgic about those memories?  It was a slower pace, closer relationships with neighbors, no TV or computers to compete for our attention.  I can picture my Mother, oven door open sliding out a fresh loaf of break, and oh the fragrance, today it is still my favorite kitchen smell.  I am glad I have memories of Mother and Grandma’s aprons and I hope you do too.

I was invited to participate at Fave Crafts in their presentation of sewing tutorials for the holiday.

I took an apron already in my supply of inventory and here is the result.  Click on the link to view:

http://www.favecrafts.com/Holiday-Sewing/Holiday-Apron-Tutorial

Yesterday we had our 100th sale when an apron in our Creative Chics store was sold to a gentleman in Spain!!!

We opened our store July 24th and in 84 days hit the 100th sale online mark!!  We think that is awesome.   We had set that goal to occur by year end so needless to say we are thrilled with the response we have had to our inventory of items.

This week I sold aprons to a lady in Canada, a lady in Finland and the gentleman in Spain.  Shows you what a small world we truly live in as probably 25% of our sales are international.  I know I speak for all of the Chic’s in saying how exciting this year has been for us, so “thank you”.

Thank you so much friends, family, and people around the world, we appreciate you!

To celebrate with you we are giving away three lavender sachets free with any order and applying a 5% discount on orders of $25.00 or more and a 10% discount on orders of $100.00 or more with any purchase today through Friday the 20th of November.  If you had your heart on an item you were planning on purchasing for Christmas giving now is the time to place the order and be a part of our three day celebration.  Please convo us before placing your order so we can apply your discount.

Note:  Discount will not apply to handbags/purses/totes due to clearance prices already marked on all of those items. These are priced to make excellent Christmas gifts for the ladies on your list.

There are lots of new items in the store to choose from; here are a select few.

Candy Cane  Napkins                                                     Cowgirl Gift Bag

Yule Critters Gift Bag                                             Joel Dewberry Napkins

More at http://creativechics.etsy.com

A few years ago I was a critic of the holiday season starting in July.  However, now that the “Chics” have to plan for things in advance, Cyber Monday is only 21 days away, it never seems we can get far enough ahead of the game!

Deb and I like to make things in advance but to make it really work we have to never step foot in the stores this time of year when they are displaying so many fabrics, trims, etc that we can’t resist. Our ability to resist buying one more fabric is almost non-existent and next thing you know we are going a hundred directions trying to do multiple things.

Example is very evident this week when you see all of the new products Deb has put online for the holidays.  Napkins, gift bags, kindle covers, her list is beautiful and I assure you there is more to come and especially if she goes shopping again   Here are just a few, and of course I had to sneak a few of my holiday items in there too.  If you want your purchase shipped to someone, pretty Christmas gift wrapping is available too.

Click on the link below to check all of the new holiday items at Creative Chics!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/CreativeChics?section_id=6535955