Apron a fun multi-generation project
Dear Vicki: I think you wrote about motherdaughter aprons once. My daughter was too young then, but now I think it would be fun for us to make them together with my mom, who’s a great sewer. I want to surprise my mom with this when she visits. So please suggest a pattern that we could make as beginners with grandma’s help. Thanks. — Jane B.
Dear Jane: I found McCall’s 5720 for you. There are several different views. I love the one pictured here. The three rows of flounces can be trimmed with rickrack, serged or turned back and topstitched.
Lots of us have fancy stitches on our sewing machines that we never use. Here is an opportunity to stitch away. Or use a package of bias binding in a contrasting color. Look at the pattern to see the options.
If the flounces are not your thing, then use one of the straight looks, and then use your imagination to decorate and make them special and memorable for your mother-daughter-granddaughter project.
Dear Vicki: Please give me tips on fusing interfacing to my garment. I only know to heat up an iron and slap it on. Is there more to the process? Teach me. — Melanie T.
Dear Melanie: Fusible interfacing is a great thing, sometimes, and it’s easy to use. But there are quite a few different ones. I like to have a couple of yards of each of my favorites on hand.
So, first of all, you must test a piece of fusible with a piece of your garment fabric. What you are doing in the test is checking the heat and time required to fuse. Also measure carefully before fusing to be sure of shrinkage of your fabric and the interfacing.
Lastly, you are going to decide if the interfacing is doing what you wanted — making the face fabric have more body or substance — and if the interfacing shows or makes the outside look different. Some fusibles have too much adhesive and end up making your fashion fabric boardlike, so testing is really important. Some need steam and some don’t, so all these things are good to know before you go too far.
Each week I share a reader’s tip and thank him or her with a set of 100 fine English hand-sewing needles. This week the tip is from Abby Fisher, of Kirkwood, Mo. She writes:
“I read this in a book years ago but no one seems to know it, so here it is for everyone. To cut perfect bias, stick rows of painter’s tape diagonally on your fabric and then cut next to the edges. You might want to put it on the wrong side of the fabric, but test first to be sure you can get it off easily.”