Actually, I just thought it was a really cool gift idea and they looked super easy to make.
For some reason I decided to make this simple project ten times more difficult by using iron on vinyl.
Iron on vinyl is a great thing. I imagine you could use it to make some great placemats. Which are basically flat with NO ARM HOLES.
Well.....yeah, this made this more time consuming then I had planned. I ironed the vinyl on, cut out the pattern and proceeded to sew on the binding to the outside edges. So far so good. The vinyl was a little difficult to move around but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle.
Then I got to the part where you had to sew the binding around the arm holes. Holy crap. What a pain in ass! Obviously vinyl doesn't bend and fold as easily as regular fabric and much of the binding didn't end up actually being sewn to the vinyl. It would slip and I wouldn't notice until after I completed the circle. I had to rip the stiches out quite a few times and start over. I wanted to rip my hair out instead. Plus every place where the needle went through the fabric left holes behind. This was the project from hell!
Long story short, finally, I was able to finish. I packaged the stupid things up with some crafty items, along with a gift card to Michaels and then I went to bed.
The next day I grabbed the gift box and my daughter and headed over to drop both off. I was still thinking about how troublesome this "simple" gift idea was and I just hoped they looked okay.
What totally made up for all the frustration?? The look on my dear daycare providers face when she saw them! She didn't like them.....she LOVED them. And you know what? So did I! I went back and looked at the photos. They were actually very cute and didn't look as bad as I had thought.
ANYHOO!!!....She informed me a couple of weeks ago that one of the other mothers was interested in buying a couple of smocks from me. I was so excited!...until I remembered the stupid binding on the arm holes issue. Crap. I was going to try to talk this lady into cotton smocks but she was all about being able to wipe them clean and....blah. This is going to suck. Okaaaaay, I'll make the vinyl ones.
Perhaps it was making them on my new sewing machine? Or maybe after a year and half of extra sewing experience something in my brain said "A-ha!". It was in fact a super easy project and they came out great! Actually, much better than the other two. Practice does make perfect!
