A little bit Country, a little bit Rock n Roll

That's me. But not country as in a musical genre. Country as in I grew up on a sheep farm in the middle of the woods. And I love that about myself. But as far as designing style, I tend to stay far away from those roots. However, I found myself inspired for Week 4 by some chickeny fabric and a ruffly apron pattern, and here was the result:The fabric is from my mom's unlimited supply. You can't really tell, but the yellow fabric has a feathery design on it, and the lighter fabric actually has little chicken footprints. The pattern is from a Better Homes & Garden's magazine. Generally, I tend to design my own projects from start to finish, but I figured it was about time for me to try my hand at some patterns. How else will I ever learn anything new? This may not have been a good one to start with. The ruffles and the bias tape made it a little tricky. And in the end, I did end up making some changes to the pattern. I added a backing; I skipped the fusible webbing; and I did the pockets a little differently than they wanted me to. I also added an adorable little applique rooster.
My mom guided me through the process--that's her modeling the apron above--which was super helpful because I would have had no clue how to gather ruffles or cut bias strips. And when we put the backing on, the easiest way was just to hand stitch it, so we each took a side and met in the middle.

My original intention was to make the apron my first piece of inventory. Part of the point of The Weekly Make is to help me build up a collection of handmade items that I can sell on etsy and at craft shows. But it's not quite perfect, so I think I'm going to keep it. (Also, I kinda fell in love with it.) It's going to be my craft show apron, and the pockets will be my money pockets, and hopefully the thought of those pockets getting filled up (so I can buy more things to make) will help me to develop the ability to part with my future handmade lovelies.