Ahhhhhhhh

The Saturday after Christmas I sat down and couldn't get out of the chair for half the day. It's my version of jet lag - a post sewing frenzy coma - and my body was not going to cooperate until it had a chance to rest. Half a day and a cup of green tea put me back on my feet. I have yet to sit at my sewing machine since finishing that last apron but I've orders to full and promised I would get to them after the new year.

What an exciting experience was my sewing-approach to the holidays. I had custom orders to fill and was constantly sewing to keep up with what was selling off the racks. Because I had absolutely no idea of what to except demand-wise from the two craft fairs my daughter and I participated in, I sewed every opportunity I had in order to feel reasonably ready for an unknown demand. I did all right in that department, though of course could have done more. Now I can take a break and no longer be concerned about back stock but sew to fill the space left by a sale.

Thank you to all who admire, buy and wear my aprons. I am grateful and humbled that I have been able to create something that appeals to others.

Happy New Year to all.

Nearing the End

It has been a wild apron ride this holiday season, mostly because I didn't know what to expect. Zoe and I were accepted into two holiday craft fairs: NYA Holiday Craft Fair and PICNIC Holiday Sale. Both of them were great experiences and we did well. I came away from both sales with special orders and I have four more to make, which I hope to finish today. Once they are finished I am calling it quits for the season as I have plenty of aprons on hand to get me through the end of the year.

I have been sewing, sewing, sewing. So much so that I looked up and realized I had done nothing towards my own Christmas. With our annual neighborhood party looming and no tree up, I began to do a bit of a panic. But (trumpets here, please) my dedicated Christmas decorating daughter, Nyla, is coming to my rescue and we will assemble that 60's aluminum tree and dress it up for the holidays and be ready for the annual gathering of the tribes.

It has been fun making my aprons and getting such an overwhelmingly positive response from those who buy them. In the process I learned what sells and what doesn't and as a result have made the decision to focus on my aprons and let go of the fringe elements. I will keep making the headbands, though, as a way to use the leftover fabric.

Aprons are definitely the way to go!

Where to find me:

Buy locally and support Maine's small businesses. To state the obvious, I am not the only crafter selling at the markets and fairs where can be found unique and well made items. I have bought and will continue to buy Christmas gifts from my fellow vendors, discovering I now think twice about giving my money to the big guys when well made and one-of-a-kind goodies can be found in my own backyard.

This holiday season I am selling weekly at two markets and am venturing out into the world of the craft fair.

Here are the wheres and whens .

Back in Brunswick!

The start of the Brunswick Winter Market heralds the approach of the holiday season and Zoe and I are back, catching up with our winter customers and fellow vendors. This market has grown! From the original 13 founding members of last January, the vendors now add up to over 40 with farmers, crafters and live music. It is THE place to be on a Saturday morning. The building management has added tables and chairs so friends and families can take a break to enjoy the music, each other’s company and feast on the variety of ready-to-eat goodies available each Saturday. Thanks to the management a banner has taken it’s place outside Fort Andross to tell the world we are back and we are ready.

I’m sewing like crazy to build up my stock of aprons for two holiday fairs (the Annual NYA Holiday Craft Fair on December 5th and the Picnic Holiday Sale in Portland the following Saturday). Because I have no idea of what to expect and dread the thought of not having enough aprons to sell, I will keep up the production until it’s time to pack up and go.

Exciting fabric keeps showing up and I keep on sewing. There is nothing like the new to keep me leaping from apron to apron. I sure have a lot of ‘em hanging around my sewing room.

Hope you see you soon, you know where you can find me…..

Mom's terrycloth half apron

I have one of my mom’s aprons made of terrycloth in a green and white checkerboard pattern (a really cool pattern that alternates a flat weave with terrycloth squares). The colors are woven and not surface-dyed. Can I find anything at all similar to that old fabric? I’m not even coming close.

My search was prompted by the request of a woman asking if I would make a terrycloth half apron using a bright, exciting pattern. I love custom orders and jumped on the project. So far all I can find in yardage is solid colors and one French terry with blue stripes/banding, which to me is not exciting and not the type of terry I know and love.

I’m beginning to wonder if my mom’s apron was made from a towel. It makes sense when one thinks of the whole apron history of women making their own, using fabric that would be on hand. (Though I seriously doubt my mom made this one, she was not a sewing mom.) So I will search stores for interesting towels. My hope is to find a good quality cotton towel with the pattern and colors woven instead of surface dyed. So many of the good cotton towels are made of thick terrycloth, which won’t translate well into an apron.

It looks like I am beginning a quest to find the right terry for her apron. I like quests.

Wish me luck.

Website!

After many attempts and false starts I finally managed to create a website to showcase my aprons: yomommasapronstrings.com. Once I talked myself into sitting down and focusing on the project I discovered I was having fun and, when it was ready to publish, I wanted to do more.

Years ago I had attempted to learn html and found I retained enough to be dangerous so needed an editor to help me along. I found weebly.com, a free site and I do mean free - no ads, no cost whatsoever for their basic plan - and went to work. There are limitations as there would be for any editor but I was able to work with what is offered and am happy with the outcome.

I did buy in for a domain name through weebly but won’t buy into any ads. Even with the lure of money to be made, I’m not biting.

So if any of you out there are reading this post, please stop by my website and take a look around and if you sign my guestbook, I would know you were there. Any questions, comments or encouraging thoughts will be appreciated.

Headbands Save Sanity: or how to grow out short hair

After years, and I do mean years, I have figured out how to survive the transition from very short hair to longer locks. My solution is no breakthrough technique but instead my return to my childhood method – a headband. Short hair has been a no-brainer for me because there is zero fuss; just wash and I’m done. No gelling, no curling iron, no combing. Wash and go. Nothing, in my book, could be simpler.

But then came the not-quite-right cut that convinced me to try once again to endure the growing-out process. I’m sure most know what I’m talking about: bangs that won’t stay out of your face, crazy layers that go every which way and just that appearance of yuck in general. Enter the headband.

I started making headbands to sell at the Brunswick Winter Market after talking to a woman who told me they are an easy seller. Sounded like a good idea to me so I began making the reversible fabric miracle workers. I tried on one of my creations and decided I could live with this look. The timing of making headbands and my frustrating haircut was perfect; I could now virtually erase my longer locks from my consciousness by sweeping them out of the way.

Many months into the process I am still weirded out by the feel of all that hair on my head but am sticking with it to see what happens next. I have no idea where I am going with all this hair or what I want to do with it. Never having been one to fuss with hair since leaving behind my high school ritual of sleeping in curlers every night, I wonder if long hair will ultimately become too much trouble for my no-fuss preferences.

Time will tell.

Spring and a new Market

Spring has sprung, which means the end of the Brunswick Winter Market and the beginning of the summer markets. Starting on May 22nd I will be selling on Friday afternoons at the Freeport location of the Cumberland Farmer’s Market http://www.cumberlandfarmersmarket.org/index.shtml. I’m excited to discover how well my aprons and other sewn goodies are received in the new location. My hope is, with the constant stream of tourists coming to Freeport for the ultimate Maine shopping experience, my aprons will prove to be a good seller to all those fresh customers.

Currently I am having a blast making work aprons for our local natural foods store, Morning Glory Natural Foods in Brunswick, Maine. Susan, the owner, saw my aprons at the Brunswick Winter Market and asked if I would be interested in making aprons for her store staff. I designed a simple half-apron with multiple pockets that run across the front and bought a variety of heavy cotton fabrics so I could make each apron of different fabric. Fun, fun, fun! I like them so much that I plan to make some for market.

I have added children’s aprons, fabric corsages and hand painted clothespin-headed creatures to my inventory. My plan is to add reversible jacquard ribbon belts and baby slings in the near future.

I hope to see you on Friday afternoons in Freeport.

It isn't over yet...

Last week Zoe and I presented our market goodies to the Cumberland Farmer's Market membership (http://www.cumberlandfarmersmarket.org/) with the goal of being accepted into their fold. I had examples of my different apron designs along with my new reversible headbands and fabric corsages and Zoe presented a number of necklaces, many of them newly created. There were a number of other hopefuls and many fellow vendors from the Brunswick Winter Market.

Zoe and I were accepted and soon will have to make the decision of which of their various town markets we want to work. The umbrella of the Cumberland Farmer's Market covers Cumberland, Freeport, Yarmouth and Falmouth. It is proving to be a tough decision and we find we can consider two of the four markets, those two being the only ones we can attend due to our other jobs: Freeport on Friday afternoons and Cumberland on Saturday mornings. We have considered trying both days but before we have even made the decision official, I fear two markets a week will be too much to handle on top of the rest of my life's duties: shopping for fabric, sewing, marketing and making time for eating, creating the sembelance of order in my home, interatcing with my family, caring for my animals - ad infinitum.

In the meantime, I must sew, sew, sew.

Brunswick Winter Market, and more!

Long time, no blog. I see lots of room for improvement here.

These past many weeks since my last effort on these pages have been happily spent in attending the Saturday Brunswick Winter Market as a vendor. This market has become a hot spot for those who prefer to spend their money locally. From what had started out with thirteen vendors has, over the weeks, grown into something like thirty. Here the shopper can find bread and delicious baked goods, local produce and pre-cooked savory treats. Along with my aprons and Zoe’s jewelry, there are a variety of other handmade delights such as rustic furniture made from recycled wood, photographs of nature, more jewelry, and wood turned beauties. There are too many to list and too many others to remember but it all adds up to a happening place that helps keep money in the community, meet friends and liven up an otherwise long winter.

Personally, I have been having a blast. I get to see many a long lost acquaintance and forge new ones. It is a good excuse for a cup of coffee (have to keep it decaf) and a morning treat from one of the bakers. On top of that I make a bit of money, which is the object of this game after all.

The fun doesn’t end after market is done. During the week I get to buy more fabric and create more aprons. I have branched out from the two original patterns and have added three different half-apron styles, a more masculine apron, and little girl’s designs. And this week my plan is to add a little boy’s apron because of a few requests for less frilly, little lacy things. (Actually, no frills and no lace so far, but I couldn’t resist the quote from a Pee Wee Herman Saturday morning show.)

Also, making their debut next Saturday, are reversible headbands for women and girls. Acting on a tip from another seamstress who said that making kid’s items draws in the customers, I decided to give these headbands a try. I made prototype and have been wearing one for a couple weeks so expanded on that and pumped out a selection to offer next week. My fingers are crossed.

Following are a couple of articles that mention the Brunswick Winter Market. I had hoped to add a link to the Times Record articles that mention my booth specifically but I their website must be down and I can’t access their site. I will leave that for another time.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=233232&ac=Home

http://www.chowmaineguide.com/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=132&cntnt01returnid=67

Beginnings

When trying to remember how I began this journey of making vintage- inspired aprons, I can trace a metamorphosis. Because my parents were antique dealers after my dad’s Air Force career, I learned an appreciation of items made in past eras, things both functional and aesthetic. So much so that if given a choice, I will opt for things that have been deemed to have already lived a useful life.

Having grown up an officer’s daughter, there was a fine line between buying something used to express an aesthetic and buying something used because you can’t afford to buy otherwise. In my family buying a fine antique table was something to be proud of but buying used clothes was to show need. Antique can depict distinction and good taste, used expresses a more undesirable trait. But when I left home and went to college, I found I liked looking at and buying used clothing and I suppose it was for the same reason my parents were drawn to antiques - to express a love of the beauty and uniqueness of the past.

That attraction for those things that have been cast off has stayed with me my adult life and in the past years that appreciation had evolved into a love of the things I remember from my youth – an appreciation of things, which I believe is common to many who have fond memories of what surrounded and shaped them during their childhood. Now “retro” has become fashionable.

Okay. Aprons. I have to admit I don’t know exactly how I got onto this kick but there is a world of wonderful fabric out there and combined with my stumbling upon two apron patterns that were created from vintage aprons, I was launched on this journey. It didn’t take much to get hooked and soon I had more aprons than I could use. I gave them away but still found I wanted to keep creating them. The lure of finding a great fabric and seeing the end result was too much to resist, so aprons accumulated.

To my rescue came the Brunswick Winter Market. I took the chance, was accepted into the fold, and now rent a space on Saturday mornings along with a growing number of vendors of both food and craft. Each Saturday I sell at least one apron and that is enough to keep me going and, to my mind, justifies my venturing out each week in search of new fabric.