Aprons for Haiti

I get way too much e-mail, but so much of it I really enjoy I can't bring myself to quit very much of it.  Case in point, the daily updates I get from this blog, by Maureen Cracknell.  She gives me all sorts of ideas that I have absolutely no time to execute, but that doesn't stop me from ogling them anyway.  Every now and then it's something I do have time to do, such as Thursday's post about this project, which is soliciting donations of pretty aprons to send to women in Haiti.

We here in this country have no idea what true poverty is like.  In the school where I teach, kids who get free lunch have iPhones and $200 shoes and dishwashers and big screen TVs and clean water and electricity and many other "necessities" that we take wholly for granted but are pie-in-the-sky luxuries for  the world's truly poor people.  Things that are very small to us are huge to people like the women in Haiti.  I myself have any number of very pretty aprons, as well as several strictly utilitarian aprons, and they have been worn throughout the preparation of much food and drink over the years. I don't really notice them other than as something to keep the mess off of my clothes, so when I saw this project, and thought how wonderful it would be to make something truly lovely to give to a woman who has very little lovely in her life, well...I couldn't resist.  

Yesterday after work my daughter and I went over to Joann's and picked up some fabric so that I could make aprons for Haiti.  Maureen--as well as many other people just a google away--has tutes for aprons, but I came up with my own "pattern" and made one last night. Here an uninspiring iPhone photo of it next to my cat Delilah who is doing what cats spend the bulk of their days doing, sleeping:

Pink!  And Blue!

I had it all pictured in my head and sketched it out on paper, which I hardly ever do, I'm more of an idea gal.  It's made of two 1 yard pieces of 44" fabric, thread, and that's it!  Well, aside from my amazing skill with a needle of course.

(Would someone please smack that woman?  She's getting entirely too uppity)

Here's a closer view of the tie:

The tie was too short for my liking on this apron.  To tie this one in front you'd need to be pretty dang skinny, although it ties in the back just fine, too.  But you know what's really awesome about this apron?  This:

It's reversible!  Melike.  Melike so much that I made another one today, and here it is:

It's shorter than the first one, the waistband and tie is much longer, and the pocket is much larger--the contrast is all pocket.  And guess what?  Yeah, you guessed, it's reversible too:

Cute?  I'm happy with the way it turned out, anyway.  I hope the woman destined to get it likes it, at the very least.  

I'll make the third one tomorrow, and if I can get Elizabeth to take some photos of me making it, I'll put up a tute, too.  The laundry might not get done, but the apron will.  If you have some spare time between now and the end of the month, dust off YOUR machine and make an apron.  It feels good!

Edit:  after many delays (a nice long conversation with Oslo), I finally got the third one finished, and am officially DONE for the weekend:

It's reversible, too, but I think you get the idea.  And here's a closer-up of the tie:

Not a bad weekend's work, if I do say meself.

I'm nothing if not humble.  

Note:  I made most of it before Elizabeth got home from her race, so no tute with this one, anyway.  Mebbe next time.