Kick ass aprons

Recently, my Aunt Susie (well, Greg's Aunt, actually, but I've decided she's my aunt too) asked if she could commission me to weave a shawl for her. I, however, am not overly fond of commissions. I've done so in the past, and have never felt entirely satisfied with the exchange. How do you put a price on the hours of your life that you give to a project? What I really like to do is to give my work as gifts to people, choosing the recipients very carefully according to their understanding and appreciation of what I do. I have been known to knit-starve a person for a goodly length of time until they are appropriately desperate for, say, a nice hat or something, and this works well to up the person's perceived value of the project. But I digress.

A commission was out of the question, but Aunt Susie is an incredible seamstress. Her workmanship and finishing techniques are impeccable, and she has a talent for throwing together colors and shapes, and also knows how to design on the fly. I've been dreaming of beautiful aprons for a good while now (largely due to this site), but just haven't gotten around to purchasing fabric and pulling out my sewing machine, because...I'm not very good at it yet. Maybe I could be, but I just haven't put in the time. So I don't want to do it until I'm good. It seems that this approach doesn't produce many (any) aprons, so I proposed a swap, of sorts. An apron for a shawl! An apron that's custom designed just for me! But I want to be surprised! Well. Aunt Susie thought that this was fine, but unfair to me. She decided that instead of one apron, she'd sew me 5.

While I was still in the planning stages of the shawl, she whipped through all 5, and look at what I found in the mail this week:



I cannot begin to describe how perfect these are for me.



The various styles,





the fabric choices,



and the trim! I have an unhealthy love for excessive trim.



There's a sense of humor along with a whole bunch of adorable style wrapped up in this set. And the true mark of a good collection? I can't choose a favorite. They're all so gorgeous/useful/sexy/fun in their own way. I would have to say that Aunt Susie totally hit her mark. These aprons are kick-ass.



The yarn is on it's way here for the shawl. It'll be on the loom as soon as it arrives!

You can find out more about these different apron styles and why she made the choices that she did on her blog post about them. Also, in case anyone suddenly feels the need for a kick-ass apron of their own, yes, she does occasionally do commission work.