I did something!

I have accomplished relatively few things in my life. Five, to be exact. Marriage, three kids, and now... an apron! Yes, you heard me right. I made an apron! A few months ago my cute cousin Tami posted about how she was going to make an apron. I thought it was so cute, and when she posted the finished product, I knew I had to try. I have never been much of a seamstress, but I thought, how hard can it be? I remember when Tami was born. If she can do it, well, I can do it, too. Never mind the fact that she is one of those extremely talented people that can do anything, and actually does do everything. But I decided to ignore that fact. I ordered the pattern, picked out some fabric at Broadbent's in Lehi, where they actually treated me decent for once (sore subject), and got out my lovely $88 sewing machine. The next month was spent perusing the pattern and trying to figure out sewing terminology. Yes, I took 4-H for about a hundred years. No, I don't remember anything I learned. But a few things did sound vaguely familiar and I spent a lot of time on the Internet figuring it out. I have a problem called "I don't learn anything unless I figure it out myself" and also another problem called "Stubborn as a mule" so although I could have spent an afternoon with my mother-in-law and had it completely done, with no mistakes, I wanted to figure it out myself so I would really KNOW something. I only called my mom about it one time because I was confused if having the fabric "right sides facing" was the same as having the fabric "right sides together". If so, why would they not just say "right sides together" all the time? Right sides facing (facing what? out or in?) must be the opposite of right sides together. But apparently no, they mean the same thing. So that is good to know. I also learned how to do the following things: baste, top stitch, create a gather, make a bias binding, make darts, use fusible interfacing, stab myself with pins repeatedly, and my proudest accomplishment: the invisible ladder stitch. That one took me a while, but once I figured it out, I loved it with all my heart. The apron is not perfect by any means, but I really don't care. It is like one of my children. Not perfect, but I will defend it to the death. I was actually really surprised at how much I loved the whole process. I found myself letting out little squeals of joy every time I made any progress. The most frustrating thing was not having a large block of time to work on it. I require complete silence and no distractions when I am really trying to figure something out, and that just never happens with 3 kids. I finally started getting up really early in the morning and working on it before the kids were awake, which was surprisingly fun. Now, let me explain the pictures. This apron is, in fact, reversible, so it is kind of like I made two aprons and have now accomplished six things in my life instead of five. It can tie in the front or the back. In the yellow picture, I didn't realize it wasn't tied high enough, so I kind of look like an idiot. Forgive me. I will not make that mistake again. Now, I would really love to learn how to make skirts. Skirts are never long enough for me, and I have such a hard time finding them, and how hard can they be, really.... I know, I know, famous last words.