Another Commissioned Apron

Here's the latest!

Latest Aprons

Here are a couple aprons I was commissioned for. They both use this fabric:



The first is a reversible half apron in a French country theme (love those roosters!!)







The next is a full apron with a daisy on the pocket.

Tissue Holders For Sale!

Here are the tissue holders I have for sale in stock at the moment. They are all $3 each, plus shipping! If you're interested in purchasing them, please visit my Etsy Shop!

Daisy printQuantity available: 2


Black toileQuantity available: 3

The following two are reverses of each other, the red toile has red gingham on the inside, and the red gingham has red toile on the inside.

Red toileQuantity available: 1


Red ginghamQuantity available: 2


Purple floralQuantity available: 2


Blue and yellow floralQuantity available: 1

The following two are also reverses of each other.

Light blueQuantity available: 3


Dark blueQuantity available: 2

Apron For Sale!

I'm trying to go through my stash of fabric and use up various leftovers. Tonight I made this pleated kilt inspired apron with fringed bottom from some leftover Christmas plaid. :-)





$15 + S&H, just visit my Etsy shop if interested!

My New Model!!

No longer do I have to do my own modeling, I hired myself a model!



Lol...of course, I'm really excited about being able to play with fabrics using a dress form, it will be so nice to be able to look at the clothes on something else and not have to stand in front of the mirror and try to hold 10 different things on me to see how they would look.

I ordered it last week but had forgotten it was supposed to be delivered today. My dear husband actually surprised me...he was home sick today with a fever and cold, so I took the opportunity to go run some errands (since I'm usually without a car during the day.) Of course one of those errands was heading to a fabric store to use a giftcard I was given (Thank you Sleen!!!!!). I came back, said hi, went into the sewing/computer room to put up the fabric and there she was, all put together! :-D He even got rid of the box so I would be surprised, hehe. So sweet of him to do when he was feeling under the weather.

I was only able to buy this because of the items that I've sold, so a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who has helped me out!!

First Full Apron!

I'm done with the reversible full apron I was commissioned for...I'm pleased with how it turned out!

My Latest

Two aprons I was commissioned for...

This one is similar to the first one I sold (and, as I mentioned, used most of the red toile up...I still have some scraps left, which I might use for tissue holders.)





And this one is pretty in pink. ;-)







Next, I'll be tackling my first full apron...a reversible one!

Wrap Skirt

For the longest time I've been wanting to try this (reversible!)wrap skirt, also from Sew, Mama, Sew. I ordered the necessary fabric several months ago (of which you need quite a bit, but I found some great clearance deals!) but never got around to actually doing it. Since I was on such a sewing kick I decided to take a stab at it. The construction was really SO simple (being a wrap skirt) but I am seriously in love with the result (and surprisingly with the olive fabric which I basically only bought because it was on clearance!)

FRONT:




REVERSED:


BACK:


I've agreed to make a few of these for some online friends. I'll see how they go, and I might make this a potential custom item. The price will depend greatly on the fabric used, as it takes a whole 7 yards (3 1/2 for each side). So, keep an eye out for more on these in the future.

Aprons Galore

The next thing that encouraged me to think about selling some of the things I've made is I was asked if I could make an apron by an online friend. I'd made a couple aprons before, so I said sure. This was the result (recognize that fabric?):





Then I was asked to make another apron from some fabric I had posted a pic of, and thus the second apron was created:





In the meantime, I found out there was going to be an extra aunt I hadn't planned for at Christmas...and so I decided to whip up this handy reversible apron!







For Christmas, I got some wonderful sewing tools!! From my sis I received a very nice pear of cutting shears and an adorable wrist pin cushion, and from my mom I received something I didn't even know existed...a sewing chatelaine! It's basically an open ended long beaded necklace type thing, that has various hooks and clasps to which you can attach sewing scissors, a seam ripper, a needle holder...VERY handy! I've already put it to good use, I think it was probably my favorite gift. Thanks Mom!!

After all the Christmas family fun was over, I realized a friend's wedding was coming up. She's a bit goth/punk, and an absolute riot! She inspired this little number:







I really hope she likes it!

I have many ideas (and fabrics) for aprons swirling around in my head. I plan on making some in the near future to have available as stock, probably for around $20. I'm also willing, though, to recreate any of the above in various fabrics for custom orders. The price should be around the same, but some may be more depending on the fabric used.

I do have to explain that I don't tend to use patterns, I pretty much make these up as I go, so I can't promise a perfectly exact replica of any apron, but I can get close. And, so far I've only made half aprons...mostly because I prefer them myself to wear around the house, I feel like I'm wearing a pretty skirt even if I have jeans on, and full aprons tend to make me feel a bit restricted, although I do use them in the kitchen. But, I think I'll probably try to make some eventually, just to see if I can. As always, email me if interested!

Oh, and I'd be remiss in my first blog post about aprons if I didn't mention the wonderfully inspirational blog for all things aprony, Amy Karol's Tie One On. Check it out!

Tissue Holders, or the Beginning

I mentioned in my introductory post that in the past several weeks I realized that there are actually people who would be interested in buying the stuff I've made!

It all started with the Christmas Bazaar at church at the beginning of December. We were supposed to bring baked goods, and I did, but I'd also been having fun making tissue holders (per the instructions discovered through Sew, Mama, Sew) for Christmas gifts, so I decided to bring a few dozen along to see if we could sell any. And, they were a big hit!



As I was sharing pics with my friends on a message board, I received some requests from people who wanted to buy some! I made some in purple for a special request:









I have about 2 dozen cut out, and ready to be sewn to sell. I've been selling them for $3 each, plus shipping. Once I get all the ones I have sewn up, I'll take pics of them all and they'll be available to purchase should anyone want to. :-) If there's a specific color someone would like, I'm always looking for new fabric so I'm open to requests for custom tissue holders.

Welcome!

Since crafting and sewing was a very common topic on my personal blog, I thought it might be time to start up a blog specifically devoted to these things. The title, Aux Belles Choses, translates to something like On Beautiful Things. Fairly self explanatory...I just really like pretty stuff!

The header is a picture of some of my favorite fabric ever. I think I bought the whole bolt, because it was such a good price and I was very much drooling over it. In the next few days, I'm about to use the last of it for an apron I've been commissioned to make. So, this is my tribute to the fabric that really inspired me and made up so many of my very first projects. And, I admit, I just have a serious obsession with toile of any kind!

In the past few weeks, I've discovered that some people are actually interested in buying some of the things I enjoy making so much, so I'll also be using this blog as a kind of stock inventory of what I have that is available to be bought, and items that I'm willing to make for custom orders. If you're interested in any items, please email me at mllevaleur (at) hotmail (dot) com. Feel free to ask questions about items in the comment boxes.

Otherwise, I plan to use it as a springboard for inspirational ideas and pretty things I see around me. I hope people enjoy them as much as I do!