Crackpot Quilters’ Blog

by Nancy

…she’s likely to get carried away!

By Ann

Last Saturday I took an apron-making workshop at the living history site that is familiar to all of you. We were making 1920s period aprons, and made the simplest pattern available, the “Melinda.” I knew from previous experience with a Melinda apron that the standard one-size-fits-all pattern which has a one-piece yoke going around the neck, would be too long from the shoulders to the waist for me, so, with the help of the woman leading the workshop, I shortened the yoke. The first step in making the apron is to bind the inside edge of the yoke and attach it to the body of the apron. As soon as I started to pin the yoke to the body, I realized that the finished apron would never go over my head. Oooops! After much laughter and all sorts of suggestions from my fellow seamstresses, some of which I found totally incomprehensible, I decided that the simplest Plan B was to convert the yoke to ties. Hence the “Modified Melinda” below:

As you can see, it really is simple! I do plan to add pockets, but that will come after the next step in the process. Now that I have a lovely new apron, all I need is the dress to go with it. I found a lovely blue tone-on-tone at Joann’s when I bought the apron fabric, but I can’t buy the fabric for the dress until I alter the pattern to fit me. I found the pattern I want to use – it’s a 1920s pattern – and although it is labeled as medium, it is HUGE. I tried altering it myself, but it is definitely not a one-person job, so I plan to bring the pattern to the forthcoming holiday extravaganza and get some help from Marty before proceeding. (You have been forewarned, Marty!) And this time I plan to make a muslin before proceeding with the real fabric. The dress I have now, for which Marty and I altered the pattern, is still a bit looser than I would like across the shoulders, so I hope to do a bit better the second time around.

by Nancy
This is a flannel baby blanket I made this past spring for a friend’s new baby girl. It’s just two different squares of flannel sewn together with rick-rack in the seam. It was quite easy to make, but I did have a little trouble getting the rick-rack positioned where I wanted it while sewing the two

flannel pieces together. I think if I did it again I would either use larger rick-rack (I used medium, and I think jumbo would have been easier to catch in the seam) or baste the rick-rack first. But, overall, I was pleased with the results. It’s very soft and cozy!

Well, finally I’ve been able to take a picture of my first few attempts at crochet. These actually are not my very first attempts – those were a bit too messy to post. But after switching from a baby-weight yarn which was both small and slippery, to a regular worsted weight cotton, and after some initial practice, I got a lot better. These are, from top to bottom, single crochet, half double crochet, and double crochet.

I started feeling more confident, so I tried doing a triangle by increasing and by decreasing. The last one is my first attempt at working in the round. It’s supposed to be a triangle, too, but it looks kind of circular to me.

My initial thoughts on crochet: It seems harder to me than knitting but also more interesting, and I think it’s for the same reason. There are more variations and different shapes you can make, which makes it tougher, but I like the variety of results you can achieve. Of course, it may seem harder and more interesting just because it’s new to me. It is a good thing to do when you’re very low on energy and stuck on the couch watching boring TV. I was hoping to get back to some work on the vehicles quilt today but I’m feeling very tired out at the moment, so I may stick to the couch and crochet today.