Crinoline Lady apron rescued!

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It has been a long long time since I bought a vintage embroidered apron - at least a year ago.
One of the ladies at our Quilt Shop stitch and sew group on Friday, showed me this apron that she had bought from someone else for $5. The person she got it from said she'd bought a few of them on eBay for $5, which I found hard to believe, as something like this would normally fetch above $30. I asked her what she was going to do with it and she said she would probably cut it up and use it in craft projects.  The look of horror on my face must have been comical, or she was expecting it, because she laughed. I offered to buy it from her and she said how much would you pay? I rashly said $50 and she said immediately it's a deal. But when I got my purse out, I only had $40 so I thought about it some more, and went across to her and said "no, I'm being stupid. I used to pay that years ago when I was building my collection, but I need to be realistic these days about spending that amount of money on my linen collection. So go ahead and cut it up". She asked if I'd pay $40 for it, and I should have said no, but honestly, I haven't seen an apron so beautifully stitched for a long time, and reluctantly decided I had to have it.  Had to go to the bank and withdraw some cash to keep me going, but everytime I look at this I think it was worth it!

Another home made apron.

This is another apron for a Down to Earth Forum swap.  The recipient warned me that she is a large size, and that she likes bright colours.  The fabric I used is from a sarong that I found at the opshop a few years ago.  I loved the bright colours too, and have hung on to it so I could recycle it into something that I liked, as I was never going to wear the sarong!  There is enough fabric left over to make something else, so I might even make myself an apron one day :-)

Home made apron for an internet forum swap.

I belong to a forum where there are a number of members who love all kinds of craft, and the moderators organise swaps from time to time.  Last month they invited members to make a dishcloth or an apron for their swap partner and as I don't knit or crochet, I chose to make an apron.  My partner is an Elvis fan, and as I have a heap of Elvis themed fabric in my stash, it wasn't difficult to find a piece the right length to make an apron!  I made a template from one of my own aprons, and made the neck and waist ties extra long so the recipient has more than enough to tie it on, regardless of her size.  As she is on the other side of the world, I have never met her, so the apron size had to be flexible!

One of my friends modelled it for the photo before I sent it off to the U.K.