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The was the very first sewing machine I ever used! A Jones Family CS vibrating shuttle.
It belonged to my grandmother, who passed it down to my Mother and this weekend my younger sister decided to make her patchwork quilt on it.
The machine probably hasn't been used for about fifteen years but these old treasures never let us down. One quick oil and away it went first time.
I love projects that involve lots of different stages, so if one day I'm more in the mood to hand sew rather than machine, I can just pick it up and work on the relevant area. This apron was one of those. Most of the detail is on the back...
I've always loved the colour of lavender and originally wanted to use a green frill trim around the edges. I think the two colours go beautifully together. I had a lovely green trim which would have been perfect except I didn't have enough of it and couldn't find anything close to what I wanted anywhere. Impatience got the better of me and I ended up sewing on some white Broderie Anglaise frill which I had plenty of. But you know when you do something and afterwards it just doesn't feel right so you kind of go off the project...that's exactly what happened with this one. The white trimming just looked too glaring and I just didn't like the result. After a few weeks I brought the apron out again. The bright frill was still putting me off the whole project! To solve the problem I decided to take the plunge and dip the whole apron in a beige dye. It meant risking the beautiful lavender colour but I've used beige dyes so many times before to tone colours down and had always been pleased with the results. It did the trick! Toned it down subtly, just enough to give it the difference needed. Enthusiasm was back!!
The shaped bodice reminded me of a Parisienne showgirl of the 1940's so I used some mauve satin ribbon along the seams to give the apron a touch of pizzazz. To bring in the much desired green colour which I had missed from the trimming I added little green, red and white embroidered motifs.
Then bright green buttons with red thread so they would really stand out. I made the buttons holes by hand, then finished off with vintage lace around each hole to bring the whole look together.
Here's the back in full...
