Grandma's Recipe Apron

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have your grandmother's

favorite recipe as a keepsake that you could actually

use and keep her memory alive and close?

Most of us have fond memories of treasured memories

that waft into the recesses of our minds.  I was just 2 

when I remember coming into my 

grandmother's farmhouse kitchen

and looking up with the big eyes of a child 

and asking for a cookie that was fresh

off the pan.

 To my little mind it seemed

to be the biggest cookie ever that she handed down to

her little grandchild.  My grandmother passed away

just after I turned two, that is how I know how young

I was in this vivid memory.

 Later, I asked my aunt if Grandma had ever

made giant sugar cookies.  I didn't know if she had or

if it was my own small size that made the cookies seem

so big in the memory of a little two year old.  

Yes, she told me, Grandma had a special sugar cookie

she made that was of extraordinary size.  That aunt went on

to create many, many memories in the kitchen for us and

my mother also.  To have one of their recipe cards with

their personal handwriting is a treasure, but now you can

turn that treasure into wearable, useable art.

My niece approached me and asked me to help her friend

design and sew two aprons, 

one for her mother and one for her mother-in-law 

with recipes from their own mothers printed on fabric

from their hand written recipe cards.

I instantly fell in love with this keepsake.  

Spoonflower.com is the wonderful company

that will turn your recipe cards or whatever design

you desire into fabric.  They advertise that it is 

custom print on-demand and no minimum order.

You can design fabric, wallpaper or gift wrap and

having seen the final product, I am very impressed.

Kaylee had ordered 1 yard each of a heavy cotton.

The price at the time she ordered it was about $25

a yard.  I thought that was very reasonable.

You can see that the recipe card is repeated throughout

the fabric.  We decided that we wanted the title of

the card to be front and center and we didn't want too many

ruffles to cover up the recipe and handwriting so I just

added a ruffle at the bottom to make it more feminine.

Using a butcher's apron as a pattern, I cut the body of

the apron out, then serged and turned over and hemmed

all of the edges.  Measuring the bottom edge, I doubled the

length and made a 5 inch ruffle for the bottom hem.  This

also had the edges serged.  After gathering, I marked the

ruffle and the bottom hem in fourths and then pinned the

ruffle on, pulling in and adjusting the gathers.  Finally

I sewed the ruffle to the bottom.  Make the ties at the neck

and waist out of remaining or coordinating fabric or you

could even purchase trim for the ties.

Wouldn't this be a wonderful gift for Mother's Day

for the woman who has everything?!!  

Maybe I even want to make them for my daughters

with a recipe card with my handwriting on it.

 Your imagination can

go wild with this fun online source.  How about aprons

or tea towels or even a skirt from your child's artwork?

Or maybe get in touch with your inner artist and design

some fabric for yourself.  What a great opportunity to

become a fabric designer.

Check them out.  They also have beautiful fabric designs

that are unique.

They have since received their gifts and

I have received a report back that they love

their apron mementos but don't want to 

wear them and get them dirty!!!  Haha!!

Well, make two - one for show and one for use!

I will be sharing this with

Metamorphosis Monday

The Scoop