Project: Lady Artisan's Apron (Beta)
Apr. 9th, 2007 05:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
labricoleuseI've been completely submerged in finishing up our final show of the season, Tony Kushner's revamp of Corneille's The Illusion, which opens Saturday. This past weekend was tech, but I actually had some downtime (though i had to stay at work and be on-call) for a few hours yesterday afternoon and finished a mockup for my super-fantastic custom-designed Lady Artisan's Apron.
Any female who's worked in a lab, workshop, or kitchen can probably go on at length about how much standard-issue bib aprons for any purpose simply don't function for the female form. They are never designed to actually accommodate a bust curve so they either don't adequately protect your chest area from splashback, or you look like the broad side of a barn. Or both. While i'm not the sort of woman who feels like a fugly waste of space if i don't have a full face of makeup on and cute shoes, wearing utility aprons has always been--for reasons of their design/construction--a necessary evil. But i asked myself: why? Why not instead create a flattering apron, where form follows function follows form? Why not make myself an apron i would be happy to wear all day long, day in and day out?
So, i decided to create my ideal work-apron: a bib style with a full 5-gore skirt modeled on the Edwardian walking skirt, of which the bib is actually both princess-seamed and bust-darted so it curves AROUND the boobal area.
Here's the design from my sketchbook. This is how the finished apron will look. This post will illustrate how i got from the concept to the Beta version, which is a functional mockup that i'll wear for a couple of weeks while working. In doing so, other features may become clear that i'll want to add to the final product. I found two lengths of denim at the local fabric shop that i'll make up in the final pattern--chocolate brown with tan pinstripes, and navy with goldenrod pinstripes. Both will have antique brass hardware.
This diagram shows you the basic shapes for your pattern and how to draft them. You need five of the trapezoid shape on the left for the skirt of the apron, and two each of the other two shapes for the bodice. For the smaller-busted lady, you may eliminate the dart and just distribute any necessary fullness with the princess seam. I've got some vague guidelines on there for how to figure out your measurements on the skirt, but for the bodice, ladies are such drastically differently shaped on top, i am showing you here the basic shapes that the pieces are, and you'll have to fiddle around with some crap-scraps and fit them to your own torso. An alternate means of doing this is to take a bodice pattern that fits you well, trace it off and draw your neckline wherever you want.
The measurements/formulae above make a floor-length apron (the extra 2" give you seam allowance at the top and a generous turn-up for your hem), but you can adjust it shorter as you wish. I made mine ankle length. As for the bottom of the trapezoid, that's somewhat contingent upon your waist-to-hip ratio and how full you want the apron to hang. You may need to fiddle with the dimension to get it how you want it. I used a measurement of 15" on mine.
You can either use wide belting by the yard for your waistband and shoulder straps, or cut widths of your fabric however long you desire. You can also add patch pockets wherever you wish on the apron's skirt. I added two to the Beta mockup. Other features include a D-ring at the waist for clipping work keys to it, a D-ring on one of the straps (also for clipping tools and other items to), and a pen-loop (since a pen-pocket is pointless on a bust curve). Here it is, made up in some stripedy home-dec duck fabric we had in our surplus storage:
front view
back view
The 5-gore skirt portion creates a lovely, flattering line, but is also extremely functional, as it protects almost your entire lower body, front and back. The only opening is the small gap at the very back where the apron waistband connects. It doesn't tie like a traditional apron, it buckles together with a tension-clip buckle, like on messenger bag flaps except bigger, so you can put it on swiftly in one quick motion. (Note that i have neither hemmed nor finished the back edges other than to serge them--i will be doing those steps on my final aprons.) Once i get past this Beta stage, I'll see how working with the cloth ones goes, then if they do turn out to be as excellent as i think they will be, i'll make a neoprene one for dyeshop work, too [1].
If any of you decide to try your own version or modification of this design, i'd love to hear about it!
Coming up: I've got a lot of exciting posts in the works, once this show gets open--new hats from my hat class, satyr hooves, all kinds of cool stuff!
[1] ETA: a dyeshop neoprene version would clearly have a higher cut on the bodice area and be worn with sleeved/high-necked clothing--the apron as depicted is for daily use with respect to protection from acrylic fabric paints, PVA (white) glues, etc.
Any female who's worked in a lab, workshop, or kitchen can probably go on at length about how much standard-issue bib aprons for any purpose simply don't function for the female form. They are never designed to actually accommodate a bust curve so they either don't adequately protect your chest area from splashback, or you look like the broad side of a barn. Or both. While i'm not the sort of woman who feels like a fugly waste of space if i don't have a full face of makeup on and cute shoes, wearing utility aprons has always been--for reasons of their design/construction--a necessary evil. But i asked myself: why? Why not instead create a flattering apron, where form follows function follows form? Why not make myself an apron i would be happy to wear all day long, day in and day out?
So, i decided to create my ideal work-apron: a bib style with a full 5-gore skirt modeled on the Edwardian walking skirt, of which the bib is actually both princess-seamed and bust-darted so it curves AROUND the boobal area.
Here's the design from my sketchbook. This is how the finished apron will look. This post will illustrate how i got from the concept to the Beta version, which is a functional mockup that i'll wear for a couple of weeks while working. In doing so, other features may become clear that i'll want to add to the final product. I found two lengths of denim at the local fabric shop that i'll make up in the final pattern--chocolate brown with tan pinstripes, and navy with goldenrod pinstripes. Both will have antique brass hardware.
This diagram shows you the basic shapes for your pattern and how to draft them. You need five of the trapezoid shape on the left for the skirt of the apron, and two each of the other two shapes for the bodice. For the smaller-busted lady, you may eliminate the dart and just distribute any necessary fullness with the princess seam. I've got some vague guidelines on there for how to figure out your measurements on the skirt, but for the bodice, ladies are such drastically differently shaped on top, i am showing you here the basic shapes that the pieces are, and you'll have to fiddle around with some crap-scraps and fit them to your own torso. An alternate means of doing this is to take a bodice pattern that fits you well, trace it off and draw your neckline wherever you want.
The measurements/formulae above make a floor-length apron (the extra 2" give you seam allowance at the top and a generous turn-up for your hem), but you can adjust it shorter as you wish. I made mine ankle length. As for the bottom of the trapezoid, that's somewhat contingent upon your waist-to-hip ratio and how full you want the apron to hang. You may need to fiddle with the dimension to get it how you want it. I used a measurement of 15" on mine.
You can either use wide belting by the yard for your waistband and shoulder straps, or cut widths of your fabric however long you desire. You can also add patch pockets wherever you wish on the apron's skirt. I added two to the Beta mockup. Other features include a D-ring at the waist for clipping work keys to it, a D-ring on one of the straps (also for clipping tools and other items to), and a pen-loop (since a pen-pocket is pointless on a bust curve). Here it is, made up in some stripedy home-dec duck fabric we had in our surplus storage:
front view
back view
The 5-gore skirt portion creates a lovely, flattering line, but is also extremely functional, as it protects almost your entire lower body, front and back. The only opening is the small gap at the very back where the apron waistband connects. It doesn't tie like a traditional apron, it buckles together with a tension-clip buckle, like on messenger bag flaps except bigger, so you can put it on swiftly in one quick motion. (Note that i have neither hemmed nor finished the back edges other than to serge them--i will be doing those steps on my final aprons.) Once i get past this Beta stage, I'll see how working with the cloth ones goes, then if they do turn out to be as excellent as i think they will be, i'll make a neoprene one for dyeshop work, too [1].
If any of you decide to try your own version or modification of this design, i'd love to hear about it!
Coming up: I've got a lot of exciting posts in the works, once this show gets open--new hats from my hat class, satyr hooves, all kinds of cool stuff!
[1] ETA: a dyeshop neoprene version would clearly have a higher cut on the bodice area and be worn with sleeved/high-necked clothing--the apron as depicted is for daily use with respect to protection from acrylic fabric paints, PVA (white) glues, etc.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-04-09 09:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-09 10:02 pm (UTC)This may need to get pushed to the top of the project list, as it will then protect me from dye for other projects. Huzzah!
no subject
Date: 2007-04-09 10:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-09 10:19 pm (UTC)Looking at it the bit I might change for myself would be the neckline shape - I can just see splashing dye on myself in the sweetheart space. I would probably have to go straight across - -not as cute, but more practical.
And a scissors pocket -- I need that too :)
no subject
Date: 2007-04-09 10:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-10 01:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-09 10:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-09 11:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-10 12:22 am (UTC)I need one. made out of, i dunno, oilcloth to keep kid cooties off of me.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-10 12:44 am (UTC)http://www.shorpy.com/node/108
http://www.shorpy.com/node/107
http://www.shorpy.com/node/102
Perhaps because they look sassy and like they are non-crap-takers. (As in "not taking crap from others," not as in "constipated.")
no subject
Date: 2007-04-10 01:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-10 01:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-10 12:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-10 03:36 pm (UTC)Color me totally jealous!!
no subject
Date: 2007-04-10 08:07 pm (UTC)Looks tough as nails and lovely to boot. I have a bib apron for cooking that's dismal, and I think some blue twill in my stash may see an upgrade, leaving the flat one for my husband.
Have I mentioned that I love your blog? Thanks!
no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 04:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-15 03:20 pm (UTC)For a less broad question, Matamor? I think that was the character's name. What were the strange shoes he wears at the very end when he goes to look for the moon? (And that enormous coat of his - it must have weighed a ton!)
no subject
Date: 2007-04-16 05:37 pm (UTC)The idea behind Matamore's shoes were that they were made from the torn remains of his coat/robe--if you were on the side of the theatre that saw them close up, they were made from scraps of the same fabric. You probably noticed that the people in the world of the illusions had no shoes, whereas those in "the real world" and the one who crossed over (servant/Geronte) did wear shoes. So, since at the end Matamore is trying to cross over, he has fashioned his own shoes to do so.
The coat was actually not very heavy--it was made from a very lightweight silk taffeta that had tiny wads of fabric caught up into dimensional nodules, so it looked like it was quilted fabric but was actually very thin (you might have noticed when he swirled it around that it moved very freely for something that looked so heavy!).
I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the show! If you wind up at any PRC opening nights next season, please come say hello at the afterparty! That's me in the icon; i'm easy to recognize because i almost always wear a big flower in my hair.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-16 09:55 pm (UTC)Was it a big red flower? I think I might have seen you!
no subject
Date: 2007-05-19 01:10 pm (UTC)I found this today and thought of you!
http://victoriantradingco.com/store/catalogimages/9i/i1510.html
no subject
Date: 2007-07-01 04:02 am (UTC)Good thing I just fitted my bodice pattern today...
no subject
Date: 2007-10-07 04:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-08 01:55 pm (UTC)I used about 2.5-ish yards of 60" wide fabric for an apron with a 30" skirt length (this will change depending on how wide you draft your skirt panels). Basically, if the fabric is such that you can get two pattern pieces side-by-side out of one length on the fold, you only need about three times the length of the skirt. Sorry i can't give you an exact yardage--it's entirely contingent upon how long you make those skirt gore trapezoids. Hopefully you are good at algebra.
I stitched all the skirt seams together into a big 5-piece skirt piece, stitched the darts on the darted bodice piece, then the princess-seams of the bodice. Then i attached the skirt and bodice to the waistband, the added the shoulder straps last.
Hopefully this answers your questions. This is a pretty daunting pattern for a novice to turn out on a time crunch! Best of luck!
in love
Date: 2008-01-21 11:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-02 01:01 am (UTC)For the trapezoid pieces for the skirt, measurement 1, I am having a hard time figuring out what that measurements means, I am sorry. I get that I need five of the pieces. But does it mean that I measure across the front of my waist, then subtract three inches?
no subject
Date: 2008-05-02 01:12 am (UTC)Let's say your waist measures 33" around.
33 minus 3 is 30.
30 divided by 5 is 6.
So, the top of the trapezoid piece, measurement #1, would be 6".
Does that make it clearer? Just plug your actual waist measurement into the calculation, in place of 33...!
no subject
Date: 2008-05-02 01:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-02 02:17 am (UTC)It's so exciting how folks really are taking this project idea and running with it.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-23 01:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-24 11:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-02 11:34 pm (UTC)