How to Embroider a Kitchen Apron

I’m not sure how beneficial this post will be as this is a fairly simple process but I do have a lot of customers who are brand spankin’ new to embroidery, so maybe it will be helpful to one of you.

First, hoop a piece of tear away stabilizer. Spray it with a temporary adhesive spray like 505. I love that stuff.

I am using my Whisky Business design, found here.

To buy this exact apron, click here. They are a great price, come in great colors,  and while I don’t love that they are a polyester/cotton mix, it does keep them from being all wrinkly once washed. (I hate ironing.)

Stick your apron on. You might be wondering why not just hoop the apron and ignore the spray. You definitely can, but I find the seams in the top of the apron and the side are much to thick to fit in the hoop so this is a better option. 90% of the time I prefer to hoop but finished items like this are easier to embroider by just sticking them on to a hooped piece of stabilizer.

I fold my apron in half at the top to get a crease then I line up that crease with the center of my hoop:

Attached hoop, and stitch away! I should have moved my design just a tad down so that it didn’t stitch so close to the top, but see? Even I make mistakes. Plenty of them, actually.

Here she is, all done!

Remove from the hoop and tear off all the paper on the back. I love it when designs look nearly as lovely on the back as they do on the front.

Enjoy!

Also cute in orange with my Measure Once, Eat Twice design.

Make Up Brush Holder

I love my make up brushes. They turn a plain girl like me into someone fancy. I’ve been wanting to make me a make up brush holder for some time now. I’m tired of always digging through my make-up brush bag looking for just the right brush. Well, I can say goodbye to that!

I embroidered the gray canvas with my jigsaw border embroidery pattern and paired it with some berry-colored linen. The back is an Amy Butler canvas print in gray. Yum.

I mostly followed this tutorial to make it but I made a few changes. First, I didn’t use batting but instead used some heavy interfacing—the kind for craft projects. And second, I cut my fabrics 10”x19”, an inch bigger all the way around than what was suggested. Maybe my make up brushes (M.A.C.) are taller than hers but a 9” tall roll-up would have been too short for my brushes. I’m glad I added an extra inch on the side too because I wanted to store some of my eye liners in it as well.

 

I love how this border stitched out……

…….nearly as pretty on the back as the front

The embroidery took the longest but sewing the project took about 30-45 minutes. I love it!

Fluffy Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting

I asked Paul what kind of cake he wanted for his old man 42nd birthday. He said he’d like a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. I’ve been eyeing the “Fluffy Yellow Cake” recipe in this book for a while now. Do I dare try a new recipe on someone’s special day? Shouldn’t I practice first? Yup, I dare. I did.

Amazing book. As always from Cooks Illustrated.

I adjusted a tad for high altitude (see recipe for my adjustments) and lo and behold the cake layers didn’t cave in! A miracle for high altitude Utah. (I live at about 4500 feet.) It usually takes a few tries to get a cake to bake up correctly, but not this time!!  Ain’t they fluffy and gorgeous? Fluffy like a box cake but way tastier and without any chemicals or additives. Proud lady. Notice the cake pans in the background with the parchment paper—don’t skip that step. I’ve never had a problem again with cakes sticking once I started using parchment paper. I get it at Costco.

And this is bar far the easiest chocolate frosting recipe ever. You make it in the food processor—pulse, pulse, done. Good heavens  it’s the best thing I’ve ever tasted too.

The only bad part about making it in the food processor is that you can’t exactly lick the blade like you usually lick beaters. Rats.

Dutch cocoa, corn syrup, bittersweet chocolate and butter. I confess I ate a few spoonfuls of just the frosting.

Ain’t she just too purdy? Yea, yea, looks are meaningless. Let’s see how she tastes.

Good gracious. Look at the fluffiness of that cake? Surrounded by chocolate. Mmmm.

This is all that was left the day after the birthday party. Look who’s finishing off this cake. Me. The baker should always polish it off.

Click here for my printout of the recipe

For the original recipe on cooksillustrated.com:  Cake recipe, Frosting recipe Of course I highly suggest the book too.