Project: Lady Artisan's Apron (Beta)
I'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.