Reversible Apron for Exhibition

Back in early December, I got out some seersucker I had bought when Niamh and Veronica were much younger, with a view to making smocked nightdresses. I wanted seersucker because it doesn't require ironing, and stripes because I could use them to guide my smocking, instead of pleating. Unfortunately, the girls were less than enthusiastic at the time, so I abandoned the idea, leaving me with rather a lot of fabric.  

I revisited the fabric after our December WES session on smocking, and came up with the idea of an apron, using the stripes for embroidery rather than smocking.

I dug out an apron that I bought as a pattern - Japanese style wrap-around with wide cross-over straps at the back ( It had been easier and cheaper to buy an apron online than a pattern in Adelaide!) and cut it out. I cut out two, with a view to lining it and making it reversible. I figured the seersucker was a bit thin for an apron. If it is protecting clothes it's better that spills don't simply go through to the clothes below.

My idea was to work the front section like a sampler, using white thread only, to get a counter-change effect. I began in the centre and got most of the way across before I needed to look up some more stitches, for which I used Enthoven.

I created a very deep V, all the way to where I planned to put a pocket.

Then, of course, I had to mirror that on the other side - and be able to work out the stitches I had used!

I changed threads a bit, beginning with cotton-a-broder, but moving quickly to perle 5 cotton, then to a cordonnet when the cotton ran out. It was quite a thread-hungry exercise!

Originally I intended to only embroider one side, but decided to embroider the second side in pink to get the counterchange contrast. I didn't have an exact match for the pink. Before I set out to buy a matching thread, I tried a variegated perle I had, and thought it would make an interesting contrast. To avoid contrast overload, I settled on a single stitch - long-armed cross-stitch. I also made the columns of stitches less steep for a broader, more solid effect.

I am fascinated by the way the look of the fabric changes when one colour is covered with thread.

I worked matching pockets, reversing the shape direction.

Today I put it together. Adding the pockets was straightforward - stripes help with alignment. It took a bit of manipulating to put the two sides together to enable reversing.  I finally left one end of each strap loose  and inserted them at the end.

They are not very glamorous photos. I had to keep trying it on to ensure I had the construction right.  I haven't yet ironed it (since the point of seersucker was to avoid ironing it seems contradictory - but I will iron it before entering it in the Exhibition).

I acknowledge it won't be the easiest thing to hang in an exhibition.

I also admit it isn't setting me on fire as a design, but it will be a useful apron. I have plenty of aprons myself, so all I need now is someone who needs/wants it!