Wow, I Really Did Get a Deal on Fabric at the Estate Sale!

I washed and folded all the fabric I bought for $10 at the estate sale. I entered all the fabric into a spreadsheet. I plan to do that with the rest of my stash, but not right now. I need to start sewing.

I created a spreadsheet to record what I bought at the Estate Sale I went to last week.

My total yardage purchase . . . 47-1/3 yards! My spreadsheet has 18 rows — that is 18 different fabrics! Over two thirds of it between 54 – 60 inches wide. And for $10!

There is quite a bit of fabric that I really like that I am going to attempt to sew wearable muslins out of! I can’t see buying anymore fabric to make a muslin!

I am teaching myself how to sew knits. It looks I picked out a lot of good quality T-shirt fabric. And I have a lot of T-shirt patterns. I mean, how can you pass up buying patterns at 3/$1?

I am SEW happy!   But I don’t even dare look at any estate sale signs on the road!

(My sewing, though, has taken a back seat to my photography regarding my grandson/family. He will be six months old next week. My daughter told me that my photos far surpass what they received from the profession studio!)

A Fantastic “Score”!

Instead of sewing, I have been going to garage and estate sales.  I scored really big on Thursday.

The estate sale was from a elderly lady that died unexpectedly. She had sewn for years.  At this estate sale you could fill a big with fabric for $5.00 — which I did.  There were a  lot of gorgeous fabrics there!

The patterns were 3/$1.00.  And wow, there were a lot of them.   Five or six grocery boxes full!  I bought around 10

And the books . . . I picked up box for $20.  Most of them are about sewing.  Nine of them are from the Singer Sewing Reference Library.  There are about 30 in the box.

Uhm, should I go back today?????

I REALLY NEED TO GET OFF THE COMPUTER     AND START SEWING!

Trouble is I have lots of grandson pictures to process and a bike to ride!

YAY ME! – – – I Finally Made Something I like! An Apron

 Well, Well, Well . . . I CAN actually sew.

 I made a really nice apron.  What I make has to be simple and not have to fitted.  My confidence has soared to the moon!  I found out  I can . . . .

Do an excellent job of selecting and coordinating fabrics

Do a wonderful job topstitching.

Make perfect bias tape. I don’t know who would make bias tape by hand except me.  I mean, well, it only took me around two hours.  But I figured it would have taken me that long to get in the car, go to JoAnn’s or Hancock’s, and buy a bias tape maker.  And you can’t go shopping there without your 50% off coupons so I would have spend time looking in my big sewing mess for that too!

Follow a pattern perfectly even if the center pocket is ugly and too big. Maybe following the pattern perfectly is not so good sometimes???

Wow!  I did no fitting adjustments and the apron fits.  What a wonderful feeling.  Perhaps I should make a few more aprons before I go back to trying to make something to wear.  I just don’t think wearing only the apron will cut it!

This is what I wrote on Patternreview.com   

Pattern Description: From the envelope back MISSES APRONS: This apron package includes instructions and pattern pieces for making eight aprons in several styles and lengths. 
I made view H, but used pocket piece
shown on view F.

Pattern Sizing: One size fits most

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes, although I did use different fabric colors.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
The instructions were easy to follow. I had some trouble understanding how to make the bias tape as I have never made it before. I did learn that making bias tape by hand is tedious work. I was too lazy to go out and buy a bias tape maker

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
This pattern wastes an incredible amount of fabric when you lay out the pattern piece for the bias tape trim. I think if I ever make it again, I will figure out some other way to cut the bias tape. You can barely see the seams in my fabric so I think I could have used smaller pieces and sewn them together.

Fabric Used:
I bought the fabric at Hancock’s. The blue fabric was on their upholstery remnant table and the flowery fabric is some kind of cotton with polyester from their quilting area. Making sure the fabric was on grain was tedious as I had to trace the fabric lines by pulling the thread and then cut on the that line. The fabric was really cut poorly so I was glad I did that. Thank goodness for rotary cutters!

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I didn’t make any design changes except using a different pocket on the view I made. If I do make the apron again, I am going to make the pocket smaller. It is just too big. I may add some vertical stitching on the pocket on the finished apron to divide the pocket into three sections.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I don’t know if I will sew it again. I don’t need another apron yet. Eventually, I may make one or two for gifts.

Conclusion: I truly enjoyed making this apron. I have not been happy with the garments I have made so far so I thought I would try something different. I could just sew the apron and didn’t have to worry about fitting. It was the first thing I have made, since I started sewing, that I actually picked out fabric for. Everything else I have made (muslins) so far has come out of my estate sale score. It was fun sewing something I picked out the fabric for! Making this apron really helped build my self-confidence. And I think I did an almost perfect job!

Miscellaneous Notes:
My top stitching on the apron is nearly perfect. I hope I can do that again on other garments/crafts.

When I stopped at the local dealership to buy the ankle foot for my machine, on a whim I also bought a “Thingamajig” made by Dritz. It was just such a pretty red color! (Who says marketers don’t know how to use color!) I had just read about it somewhere on the web and decided to give it a try. I used “Thingamajig” when I topstitched where the seams met and were very thick. What a neat thing! I didn’t have any trouble topstitching around corners! The topstitching looked great! I know I will be using it a lot!

I also learned how important it is to use a sharp needle and the correct size needle. I put a brand new needle in right before I began topstitching and I couldn’t believe what a difference it made.