I have finally made a decision on what I am going to make. I am going to make an apron! I know, it doesn't sound that exciting but I think it was the best decision based on several factors: 1) time - I don't have a whole lot of free time right now, so I can't be getting all crazy into details and intricate designs 2) The idea is to learn to sew, not master sewing. An apron is great beginner project because the template is simple and it's something I know I can create and it will look like an apron and it will be wearable and 3) Mother's Day is coming up and well, Mama likes aprons...
I chose the style of the apron above from Anthropologie. I wanted and needed to pick something to mimic from a store because one of my big inquiry questions was: how much money will I save sewing something verse buying it? The apron above sells for $42.
After I chose the apron, I pinned it and then went back to Pinterest. Originally I though I would just try to make an apron all on my own without a template or anything. I have changed my mind. Again, I am trying to learn how to sew, not just sew to sew. So I went back to Pinterest to see if they had a template I could use and... voila! And Pinterest is great because it took me right to the original source which was a blog called Style Me Pretty and she had clear, concise and direct instructions on how to make an apron. She provides a list of materials, step by step directions in writing, step by step directions with images of the final product. This works perfectly in order to go for the look I am going for with the Anthropologie apron.
I chose the style of the apron above from Anthropologie. I wanted and needed to pick something to mimic from a store because one of my big inquiry questions was: how much money will I save sewing something verse buying it? The apron above sells for $42.
After I chose the apron, I pinned it and then went back to Pinterest. Originally I though I would just try to make an apron all on my own without a template or anything. I have changed my mind. Again, I am trying to learn how to sew, not just sew to sew. So I went back to Pinterest to see if they had a template I could use and... voila! And Pinterest is great because it took me right to the original source which was a blog called Style Me Pretty and she had clear, concise and direct instructions on how to make an apron. She provides a list of materials, step by step directions in writing, step by step directions with images of the final product. This works perfectly in order to go for the look I am going for with the Anthropologie apron.
Now that a decision of what I was going to make and a template was discovered, it was time to get shopping! I knew Jo-Ann's has fabric and I also know that they always have coupons floating around. Before I took off for the store, I did my research online and voila again, I found coupons! The great thing I learned as that Jo-Ann coupons can be accessed on a mobile device as well and used in-store. I took the old fashioned (and paper wasting) way and printed out my coupons. Then I was on my way to the store (with my list of measurements of fabric).
And a 5-minute store trip turned into an hour trip. There were so many choices of fabric. In my mind I thought I'd walk in, find two fabrics I liked real quick and then get right out of there. I must have picked 8 different combinations before I became so frustrated with myself. Why was I acting like this was the biggest decision of my life? I think I spent less time on an entire section of my TPA then I did trying to select fabric combinations. I suppose it was because I kept trying to remember that I am going to give this to my mom as a gift, so what would mom want? Not Laura, not her master teacher, not her grandma, but what would my mom like?
By the time I selected my fabrics I ran into a whole other time sucker - the line. Who knew that fabric is still really popular? I had to draw a number and patiently (or not so patiently) await my turn. It took about twenty minutes just to get my fabric cut. After that it was easy breezy and I checked out (with my coupons!) and the grand total came out to $15. I got a little extra fabric just in case I messed up but still, $15! So as of right now it looks like there is going to be a cost difference of $27 for me to make an apron all on my own. That's a pretty big difference of about 64%.
So now I have my fabric and next week will kick off the hands on learning part of this project! Stay tuned!