Pretty Flowered Aprons

Sewing is one of my greatest joys during the bleak winter months.  I HATE winter; truly, I detest cold.  My body recoils from it and mostly what I want to do is sit in front of the fire under warm blankets and watch TV (which means I fall asleep in about fifteen minutes.)  However, my sewing room is cozy and a wonderful retreat from the cold world outside.  And because this January has been particularly harsh, disheartening, and sad....I need to spend as much time sewing as possible.  Here are a couple of aprons I've made recently:

I used this 1944 pattern, Simplicity #1162, with a some slight changes:

As you can see, I substituted a much more utilitarian neck strap than what the pattern shows; as adorable as that bow is, I felt like it would get in my way and bother me--because aprons are made to be worn!  A big floppy bow really isn't my style.  Also, I'm horrible at making or even tying bows, so my fear was that I couldn't actually create a pretty one.  The floral print fabric is certainly pretty enough on it's own anyway. Instead of an embroidery transfer as shown on the pattern, I added some decorative stitching at the top of the bib, waistband, and on each pocket.  I also put on two pockets instead of just one.  This pretty fabric is from Joann's; I've noticed that in the last year or so, Joann's selection of cottons has greatly improved.  Their "premium" or "artist's" brands are entirely comparable to quilt shop fabrics.  A closer view of the decorative stitching detail:

I love this little scallop stitch; most of my sewing is done on my Singer, but I also have a Brother LX2500, which is a very handy little machine that has a good variety of stitch patterns to choose from and this one is my favorite.

Initially, my plan was to make this apron from one of the vintage feedsack fabrics I found at an estate sale last fall, but there wasn't quite enough.  Instead, I returned to my trusty flapper apron for the feedsack fabric:

I say this is feedsack fabric because that's what I think it is; I can't be entirely sure.  The big blue pockets are leftovers I've had for a couple of years.  Again, I like pockets on my aprons!  This one will be available on my etsy shop very soon.

And one more feedsack flapper, another print from the same estate sale (nothing better than buying a whole bunch of fabric at once!):

This one is already available in my shop, in case you are in need of an apron.  It's hard to tell in this photo, but this one has a large pocket in the middle--it's the same fabric as the rest of the apron so it blends right in.
Thanks for looking!