Chicken scratch apron

A year or so ago I did a workshop at the Embroiderers' Guild on Chicken Scratch, or Depression lace. We worked a little sampler, mine on a piece of small squared gingham that I happened to have left over from something.

I really loved the result. It was fascinating to see the different effects of using the red or the cream thread, and  from stitching on either the red or cream squares.

Others at the workshop had some striking fabrics they had bought from Trish's fabric shop in Adelaide. I visited after the class and bought three pieces with the intention of making aprons.

I also went hunting for patterns for cover-all aprons in the Japanese style. In the end I bought two aprons online to use as templates - cheaper and easier than patterns!

The time has never been quite right, but this Christmas, when I bought my eldest granddaughter a recipe book for Christmas, I thought it would be good to make an apron to go with it. I chose this piece pf fabric - a bold check rather than a gingham.

Because the squares were about half an inch, I needed quite a heavy thread to get coverage, and settled on this crochet cotton. It needed quite a large needle, but worked well.

I had bought a metre of the 140cm wide fabric. The length gave me the drop, less a strip for the cross-over straps,  and the width enabled me to cut the wrap-around apron without side seams. Using the pieces I cut out from the arm holes for pockets, I just had enough to patch together some bias strips to edge the curves.

I began the embroidery with the pockets, using detached chain crosses and edging it with double crosses.








Along the bottom I worked simple crosses on the red with cream thread. I really love playing with the different effects.



I kept referring back to my sampler.








The yolk presented the greatest challenge. I had a couple of adaptations before I was happy. It needed quite dense fill to achieve the lacy look.
I didn't have a model to photograph the finished piece, but I was delighted with it. It is sturdy, but looks quite delicate.


It made a good present to accompany the recipe book.

Having taken the plunge I made up the other two pieces I bought after the workshop. That's, however, for another post or two!