laundry on the line: a clothespin apron

Recently I had fun joining in the New Embroidery with Vintage Patterns flickr group’s Summer of Vintage Stitchy Love Contest.  [The grand prize winner was just announced here!]

For budgetary and other reasons, I have sort of an unwritten rule that I don’t make things just for the sake of making them—I want them to be used and have a purpose.  So before starting to stitch my modified pattern entry, I made sure I had a plan for using the finished embroidery. 

One of my favorite things about summer is hanging laundry out on the line, so I thought it would be fun to incorporate the pattern into a clothespin apron.  Before making the apron, I either had to bend over and retrieve clothespins from a basket on the ground or reach up and grab some from bag that hangs from the line, both options that don’t work very well when you have a baby strapped on, as I often do.

I ran across this tutorial for a clothespin apron from The Seasoned Homemaker, and it all came together quickly.

I followed most of the tutorial exactly.  One change I made was to construct the waistband out of one piece of fabric, rather than three.  I also cut double layers of fabric for both the pocket and the main body of the apron, as the cotton muslin I used seemed a little thin.

Yellow isn’t usually my first choice when deciding on a color, but I really had fun using this floral thrift store bias tape from 1984 as the edging for the entire apron.



Now we just need some consistently sunny weather, and I’ll be ready to go!