Smockafore

Because I truly do need more ways to use the word "smock."

(Sorry for the photo quality on these ... it has been very gray around here of late.)

Elisabeth has a friend who is just two days younger. When the girls were little toddlers, her mother and I used to get stopped and asked if they were twins when we were out and about together. It's true that they look very much alike ~ both are tall, curly-haired, blue-eyed little ones. Both are high-intensity, strong personalities. They're so similar and yet so different. It is amazing to me to see how they have grown together.

Anyway, in addition to Easter and Elisabeth's birthday, we have sweet Miss L's birthday  this week (oh, and another little friend's birthday next week ...) So, this gift is the first of many you'll see posted in the upcoming days.

This is not the first time I've made one of these apron/smock/pinafores in the cross-back style, though it was the first time I'd done it in linen.

I'd been planning to make a linen one for Elisabeth's birthday for several months, but since Miss L's birthday party came first, I ended up making hers before starting Elisabeth's. I decided to use my favorite Stitchette pattern for the pocket, and used turquoise and purple floss in the design because they are colors which remind me of her. I'd begun the embroidery before I even thought about what fabric to use as lining. Quite serendipitously, my order of Freshcut fabric arrived this week, and the stripes matched the embroidery perfectly. I am really, really happy with the way this came out, and I hope Miss L likes it, too.

{These cross-back smocks can be seen all over the place lately; Alicia's smocket pattern is the same idea, and Amanda made some using linen recently, as well. The design is traditional, and can be seen, among other places, in an early 20th century illustration on the little brother in the book Ollie's Ski Trip by Elsa Beskow. I adapted my design from a pattern in The Children's Year when I first made one. This style of apron has also been sold at Magic Cabin in the past -- we have one of theirs from about three years ago -- although I don't know if they still carry them.}