Springtime - and aprons galore!

Well, not quite, not yet, but the daffodils are peeking above the ground, the days are getting noticeably longer and my spirits are lifting.

The mojo has returned, at least somewhat, so that a couple of weekends ago I had a stall at a local fund-raiser held for the Christie Hospital in Manchester  - and was able to donate a nice round sum, approaching £100, towards a teenager's quest to raise £1000 for the hospital which saved her dad's life. Coincidentally, I trained there as a therapy radiographer many, many years ago and had a wonderful, worldwide career on the back of that training and qualification. It was a pleasure to help such a worthwhile cause.

The aprons I first started selling last year at the village market are STILL selling like hot-cakes - I sold every single one at the fund-raiser and could have sold more! 

I thought I'd remind myself of my exploits in the past year or so with some of the pics I like. I keep forgetting to take photos, though - at the recent fund-raiser my table looked really pretty, but I'd forgotten my camera - duh!

Aprons on the washing line!

I love the flowery one on the right -  so cheerful, even on the dreariest of days.

September 2013 stall

At the social club, in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support.

Only just opened for business - I'd already sold a couple of aprons,
and by the end of the morning, I'd even sold the apron 'off my back'!

May 2013 stall

A corner of my stall on a very windy day last May, at the Village Market.

This was later in the day - the wind had really got up.
Aprons had to be taken off the rail, and rod pockets laid flat on the table.
However, the bunting really showed itself off in the wind, and all of it was sold.

More aprons I've sold

Pink and lavender - not my favourite colour
combo, to be honest, but it sold very quickly
& has been requested several times.

One of my favourite print combos.
This gives a really cool retro effect.
The neck 'tie' actually buttons into  place.

I think there are a few reasons why my aprons sell so well.

They're made of 100% cotton, and fully lined, so they offer superb protection and absorbency. They're not made of flimsy fabric, but good solid stuff. 

I have a couple of weights of pure cotton fabric which I use for linings, depending on the weight of the 'main' fabric. One is a medium weight - I suppose a calico sort of weight - and the other is a sturdier fabric, possibly a light upholstery or soft furnishings weight. The first is a plain white cotton, and I've dyed some lengths of it to get coloured linings for a bit of variety. The heavier lining is white with a black print reading 'cooking eating drinking' - and thus absolutely ideal for aprons! I haven't dyed any of that, but see no reason why I shouldn't do so. The black print would look good against almost any colour background.

I also make another style of full apron, which offers really good coverage to almost any size wearer, and a couple of styles of half-apron, which the younger set seem to like. As one teenager said to me 'I love baking, and I don't mind getting my t-shirt messy, but I don't want to get my jeans covered in flour and egg'.  A half-apron can be tied at the currently-fashionable low waist level so that jeans or leggings are well-protected.

I'll post photos of the other aprons soon, I promise!