World Famous Comics: A Is for Apron: 25 Fresh & Flirty Designs
A Is for Apron: 25 Fresh & Flirty Designs
By: Nathalie Mornu Publisher: Lark Books Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Lark Books Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 144 Publication Date: May 06, 2008
A is for adorable and amazingly irresistible and incredibly attractive: who would have imagined that the apron, that charming and nostalgic symbol of domesticity, would become today’s must-have home accessory? But it most certainly is, as stitchers and crafters flock to these creative canvases as the perfect vehicle for showcasing fabulous fabric, simple embellishments, and novel ideas. These ingenious projects—from ultra-feminine and vintage chic to whimsical color-play—include waist and bib aprons, pinafores, smocks, cobblers, and even something for the pint-sized cook. All of the projects are photographed in a playful style. And templates, sewing basics, and quick and easy projects for sprucing up store-bought aprons and whipping up aprons from recycled materials are here too!
Wonderful aprons, frustrating instructions I love this book and would have given it 5 stars if it hadn't been for the frustrating instructions. I have made one of the aprons so far, the "Josephine." I am a novice seamstress and I had to learn to thread my machine before making my apron and I had to call my mom to explain things like "basting stitch" and "slip stitch." My apron did turn out wonderfully and I love it!
The first problem is that you have to enlarge your pattern. Most have to be enlarged 400% but some must be made larger. I took the book to a chain copy center and had the pattern enlarged for $3. It wasn't a big deal at all. But, they said they can only enlarge up to 400% so I don't know what I will do to enlarge the patterns that must be made larger.
The second problem is that the instructions skip steps and don't explain everything very well just as the other reviewers have said. I found that by going slowly and asking my mom (who has been sewing her whole life) for help that I was able to minimize the frustration and get the apron made. I contacted one of the designers who said that she had written careful instructions to go with her design and the editors of the book edited out some of the instructions!
Even though this book has some problems, I still recommend it even if you don't have much sewing experience.
Beautiful Book with one pitfall Gorgeous book, gorgeous pictures! The ONLY problem is that you have to enlarge the patterns! Even with that in mind I would recommend this book 100% of the time. Even a beginner would be able to start at the most simple apron and work their way up to the most advanced. It even has a couple smock patterns that would be SO cute for room service at a hotel or for commercial housecleaners! Just a beautiful book!
Disappointed While the history of the apron was intresting, the photos were well done and text was well written, I was disappointed that all the patterns need to be enlarged 200%, 400%, 579%, etc. Who has a blueprint copy machine easily available that can do this type of copying??? I expected to read through the book, pick my fabric and get started! Poor planing on the writer's part.
I love it! I really like this book! It has a lot of cute designs as well as a lot of tips on mixing and matching fabrics, picking embellishments, and examples of vintage aprons. The only downside I've found to it is that there's never mention of lining or in any way reinforcing the aprons, and if you plan on using them as more than fashion accessories, that would probably be a crucial step- a regular weight cotton fabric is so thin that grease or liquids could soak right through to your clothes. For someone with decent sewing skills, that shouldn't really be a problem to improvise though. All in all, the desings are cute, the photographs are good, and I like the style the author presents her ideas in.
Cute aprons - frustrating book! I fell in love with so many of these aprons that I had to purchase it, along with fabric to make them. I tried my favorite first, the Josephine and was constantly taking out seams and reworking the instructions to make better sense. The steps that there were pictures of really didn't need the photo, and other steps really should have had photos. I'm disappointed to find that the patterns and cutting instructions don't match what is in the photograph. Especially with the psychedelic squares. Really, only purchase this book if you are an experienced sewer who is capable of figuring things out on your own. The written instructions are not as helpful as they could be. Oh, and like another review, I found that I had lots of wasted fabric in the end. Fine with me, I do like to use up my scraps later, but at $9 per yard, it's pretty spendy to waste fabric like that.
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