Secret Santa Crafting

'Tis the season for Secret Santa at work. I drew the name of one of our school's secretaries. She indicated on her form that one of her hobbies is baking. I immediately thought to make her a Christmas apron. I have tons of apron patterns in my stash and seldom make any of them, or anything much for that matter. Our gift exchange is Wednesday, the 15th, so I chose the easiest one I could find. It's a McCalls pattern from the 1980's, which I picked up at Savers for 69 cents. I could have also gone to town creating appliance cozies, but maybe some other time. I just grabbed a yard of cheap gingham at Walmart Friday night. I was pretty sure I had some suitable trim laying around my place. All of the Honolulu Marathoners were in town as the marathon was today. They all seemed to be at Walmart, so I came home exhausted from the crowd and all the other shopping I had to do. I didn't make this until Saturday night. It was very, very easy and came together in about 2 hours. The next time I make it, I should be able to do it in about an hour. I was being careful and actually following the directions so I wouldn't have to spend time ripping out my mistakes like I usually do. It paid off...no major mistakes. Only someone who sews might be able to spot the flaws. Not that it's perfect, but it's pretty good. It looks cute on my dressform, anyway.

I originally wanted to ball fringe the bottom, but after doing the pockets, it seemed like enough.

I had about 5 yards of this vintage ball fringe in Christmas colors tucked away. I was so happy to have a chance to use it. I think I paid a quarter for it at a church thrift store. It was kind of stretchy to work with and I'd never sewn it on anything before, so next time I'll know better how to cut it to center it just right on the pocket.

Along with the apron, I'm giving her a thrifted copy of Betty Crocker's New Christmas Cookbook from 1993, an extra Pyrex Butter print mixing bowl I've had hanging around, a new potholder, and 2 new wooden spoons. I may include a Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix in with it. The limit was $10.00 and I'm coming in way under that, but it looks like I went over. I love it when that happens!

Now I'm in the mood to do more crafting, but I have to work on report cards. Bummer.