Ahh, I’m seeing gift baskets everywhere these days. ‘Tis the season! I both enjoy giving and receiving them as they often contain some special little personalized treasures that have been carefully inserted with the recipient in mind. Having a theme gives me direction while on the hunt for items to include in my baskets.
You may remember from one of my previous posts, I mention the new spices I purchased in Portland at Penzey’s Spice Shop. I have decided to put together some holiday gift baskets for my girls that would include some of these spices along with some additional baking goodies. While on an outing to Cost Plus, I found these wonderful accessories.
The small containers are not only adorable, but so perfect for storing spices. I love that the ceramic tops come in different colors and coordinate with the bowls and measuring cups. Some decorative labels will help to identify the spices.
Seems that once I get on a roll, all sorts of possibilities become available. Tuesday, I found these wonderful tea towels on sale at my local quilt shop. I purchased four (two black and two blue) thinking I would do some quick hand embroidery or add simple appliqué shapes to each one. Instead, I found myself slicing and dicing to make quick-and -easy aprons. Note: I just went back today and purchased the pink and a few more black.
Here’s what you will need to make one apron:
Two tea towels
1/2 yard of ½”-wide elastic
Two buttons
1. Cut a 4″ wide strip from each long side of one of the towels. Since these towels have stripes, I cut 1/2″ away from the inside stripes to allow for seam allowance. You may adjust width depending on the design of your towel.
2. Turn and press the cut end of each strip and then stitch through all layers. These make the two waistband ties.
Fold, press and stitch strips in half lengthwise. Photo indicates both front and backside of ties.
3. Cut the leftover piece of the first towel to measure 12-1/2″ x 12-1/2″. Fold, press, and stitch a narrow 1/4″ hem on all sides. This will be the apron bib.
Apron bib.
4. On the second towel, measure 1-3/4″ in from one long side. Turn and press to the wrong side, and then stitch close to the folded edge. (Note: The folded edge should already be hemmed, so simply stitch close to the fold.) Stitch again 1/2″ from the top folded edge to form a casing. Finally run a 1/2″ wide piece of elastic through the casing. The length of the elastic will depend on the desired finished width of your apron.
Run elastic through a casing formed on the top edge of the skirt.
5. Use safety pins to secure the elastic on the ends, and then insert the waistband ties into the casing on each end. Stitch through all layers to secure.
6. Finally, attach the bib top to the apron skirt with two stitching lines. Use a ribbon or leftover piece of of the towel to make a short neck band. I turned the top corners of the bib back and secured with decorative buttons.
Attach top to skirt, stitching through all layers (gathers).
8. You can keep your apron simple or consider adding embellishments, such as rick-rack, pompoms, ruffles, embroidery, or appliqué. I’m heading out of town tomorrow and plan to bring these with me to add some hand embroidery both on the bib and along the bottom edge. Note: There is a leftover piece after cutting the bib top that can easily be used to make a pocket – no waste!
I think this simple idea offers many possibilities and I hope you try some of your own. I have an extra set of pink and blue towels and would love to give one set away to one of our readers. Just leave a short comment by end of day Sunday, December 8th, telling us what your favorite gift basket would include and we will announce the winner in our next post on December 10th.
Happy Season everyone!
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