Wouldn't it be wonderful to have your grandmother's
favorite recipe as a keepsake that you could actually
use and keep her memory alive and close?
Most of us have fond memories of treasured memories
that waft into the recesses of our minds. I was just 2
when I remember coming into my
grandmother's farmhouse kitchen
and looking up with the big eyes of a child
and asking for a cookie that was fresh
off the pan.
To my little mind it seemed
to be the biggest cookie ever that she handed down to
her little grandchild. My grandmother passed away
just after I turned two, that is how I know how young
I was in this vivid memory.
Later, I asked my aunt if Grandma had ever
made giant sugar cookies. I didn't know if she had or
if it was my own small size that made the cookies seem
so big in the memory of a little two year old.
Yes, she told me, Grandma had a special sugar cookie
she made that was of extraordinary size. That aunt went on
to create many, many memories in the kitchen for us and
my mother also. To have one of their recipe cards with
their personal handwriting is a treasure, but now you can
turn that treasure into wearable, useable art.
My niece approached me and asked me to help her friend
design and sew two aprons,
one for her mother and one for her mother-in-law
with recipes from their own mothers printed on fabric
from their hand written recipe cards.
I instantly fell in love with this keepsake.
Spoonflower.com is the wonderful company
that will turn your recipe cards or whatever design
you desire into fabric. They advertise that it is
custom print on-demand and no minimum order.
You can design fabric, wallpaper or gift wrap and
having seen the final product, I am very impressed.
Kaylee had ordered 1 yard each of a heavy cotton.
The price at the time she ordered it was about $25
a yard. I thought that was very reasonable.
You can see that the recipe card is repeated throughout
the fabric. We decided that we wanted the title of
the card to be front and center and we didn't want too many
ruffles to cover up the recipe and handwriting so I just
added a ruffle at the bottom to make it more feminine.
Using a butcher's apron as a pattern, I cut the body of
the apron out, then serged and turned over and hemmed
all of the edges. Measuring the bottom edge, I doubled the
length and made a 5 inch ruffle for the bottom hem. This
also had the edges serged. After gathering, I marked the
ruffle and the bottom hem in fourths and then pinned the
ruffle on, pulling in and adjusting the gathers. Finally
I sewed the ruffle to the bottom. Make the ties at the neck
and waist out of remaining or coordinating fabric or you
could even purchase trim for the ties.
Wouldn't this be a wonderful gift for Mother's Day
for the woman who has everything?!!
Maybe I even want to make them for my daughters
with a recipe card with my handwriting on it.
Your imagination can
go wild with this fun online source. How about aprons
or tea towels or even a skirt from your child's artwork?
Or maybe get in touch with your inner artist and design
some fabric for yourself. What a great opportunity to
become a fabric designer.
Check them out. They also have beautiful fabric designs
that are unique.
They have since received their gifts and
I have received a report back that they love
their apron mementos but don't want to
wear them and get them dirty!!! Haha!!
Well, make two - one for show and one for use!
I will be sharing this with
