Sewing project

 I found myself in the position of needing a costume.  Not just for Halloween, but for Swannanoa Valley Museum's Haunted History Tour.  Previously, I had introduced participants to a boarding house turned Bed and Breakfast as a guest of said boarding house in the 1920's.  However the property had been sold and had become law offices.  So a change in the story was in order.  To accomodate this change, I was determined to be a cleaning lady for the building that would give the history of the building since it had been built in about 1912.

There was nothing in the museum's costume holdings that would make this presentation beleiveable.  So a trip to the charity shop was in order.  I found not only a colorful skirt and sweater (think of Carol Burnette's cleaning lady from the 1970's), but also I was in search of an apron without having to create one from scratch.  A skirt with a flounce would do - so I found one and cut out the back of it out. 

My mother's Necci sewing machine, purchased in 1956, or there abouts had been my go-to for sewing since I had received it about 15 years ago.  But this time, when I attempted to fire it up, the motor would not turn the mechanism.  And so the nearly 70 year old machine would not be of any use to me.  Thank goodness for the modest Singer sewing machine purchased several year ago.  

Next was to find what whould make waistband and tying straps.  I found some fabric that I though might work:

 The border of this, if long enough would work for both.   And so it did:

I had enough to make substantial ties as well as a waistband.  This would create a suitable apron for our purposes:

All this created in just 3 hours including shopping.  Not IN the Art Barn, but a part of the creative process indicative of what the Art Barn is.

Hopefully, the Art Barn itself will be ready for using soon.  More to come!