teaching sewing confidence, tip by tip

Wednesday 13 April 2016

Liberty Love - Happy Birthday Aprons


On a recent trip to Pins & Needles on Manhattan's Upper East Side (explore the store with me here) I came face to face with this Cotton + Steele Melody Miller B&W Typewriter fabric.  


I've had my eye on it for a while with a plan in mind so I bought several yards along with this gorgeous Liberty tana lawn called Kitty Grace and Lotta Jansdotter Stella fabric.

And then I put my plan into action - two matching reversible aprons, one for my Mum and the other for me.  Obvs Mum wasn't around for the photo shoot so I used the next best thing, my daughter Flicky, who happened to be home from the University of St Andrews for Spring break.  


The typewriter fabric is sooo perfect for the two of us as Mum was an incredibly well known secretarial teacher in the north-west of England and after teaching at secondary colleges and senior schools for many years finally set up her own school, Martland Secretarial School in my hometown St Helens, taking her through to her retirement.  

There's hardly a woman over the age of 30 in St Helens and the surrounding area that doesn't know or hasn't been taught by my Mum - apart from me!  I refused to allow Mum to teach me my typewriting, shorthand and secretarial skills and instead got a position in the Pilkington Glass Head Office Secretarial School and until I changed career direction at the age of 30 I was a very successful PA for global organisations in my own right.  

Whatever my start in the secretarial profession was, Mum and I went through the change from manual typewriters to electric typewriters to word processors then computers together and that's what makes this fabric so amazingly perfect for us both.



And a little bit closer on the detail and fussy cutting.



 And guess who got the giggles when we were taking the photos?


I'm giving Mum her apron today as I'm visiting England, staying in London, and today I'm meeting up with her in Birmingham to celebrate her birthday.  I'll be handing the apron over along with her other pressies and I'm also taking her to see Mary Poppins, the musical.  By now Mum should be eating breakfast in a first class Virgin train carriage on her way to meet me, it's all a surprise so if you see her sssh don't tell ;D 

Belated Happy Birthday Mum x


Update - Mum loved her apron!!!




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19 comments:

  1. Adorable aprons! And Liberty! I am jealous.

    What pattern did you use?

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  2. What a lovely surprise for your mother and she looks as though she loves the apron too. xx

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    1. We had such a fun day Lin and over all too soon, sadly hadn't seen Mum for 13 months so it was really special for us both x

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  3. I love these aprons. Such pretty colours.

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  4. Lovely aprons Chris, and an even lovelier story to go with them :)

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    1. Thanks Fiona, it was wonderful to see Mum and hard to say goodbye at the end of the day :'(

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  5. Great photos, and I love the update with your mum, and beautiful aprons.
    We live close to Brum so I have seen SO many friends displaying on fb that they are going to/at/just been to Mary Poppins, it looks great so I hope you all enjoy!

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    1. It was a great show Julia, to be honest we went because, well there was nothing else on, we wouldn't have chosen it but we both really enjoyed it :D - Chris

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  6. Super fun apron! But your daughter and mom totally outshine the aprons! Fabulous pictures of you and your daughter together!!

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    1. Thanks Jayne - my daughter Flicky is home again the week after next for 3 months and I can't wait. I have a great life but when my kids come home and I get to slip into 'Mum' mode again I feel like the real me! - Chris

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  7. These aprons are lovely. Great project and photoshoot !

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  8. super cute fabric and love all the smiles! Great apron!

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  9. Great aprons and even greater story and happy faces. What a delightful post.

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  10. Those fabrics are gorgeous! Thank you for sharing at The Really Crafty Link Party this week! Pinned!

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  11. Wonderful to see and hear about your happy family. Great gift for your Mother. Happy birthday to her from me too!

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  12. so cute - we have a great store of fabric in town called: Picking Daisies - you would have a heyday! next to you at live simple

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  13. What a perfect gift - fantastic fabric.

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  14. Love them Chris! I'll have to be sure to visit Liberty when I'm over there this summer.

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    1. Def Allison and if you're looking for other London (and also Bath & Edinburgh) fabric stores there's more info here on my Exploring The World page. Have a fab trip, looking forward to hearing more about your travels :D - Chris

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Chris Dodsley


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