Author Archives: lisabenn

NEW & IMPROVED! No7:2 ochre canvas!

This apron design has been in the range for 3 years now, in a navy/white fine stripe denim with red straps, it has lots of great features but the stripey fabric did tend to hide them – but this ochre cotton canvas shows them off in all their glory! The original design has also been improved by adding a large pocket to the skirt, for phone/notebook.

The front ‘split leg’ feature offers plenty of movement and ensures each leg is well covered while seated at the potters wheel or workbench. There is an array of pockets: a wide set of pockets with 4 compartments set at waist height for easy access when sitting, a breast pocket with two compartments for small tools, pencils etc, a large pocket on the side of the skirt for larger tools, notebook or phone – there’s also a fabric loop for hanging a cleaning cloth or keys. An extremely comfortable crosback strap design adjusts to fit perfectly across a wide size range and accommodates extra layers in a chilly studio!

In The Making – Aprons online shop in.themaking.uk

Etsy shop • Folksy shop

NEW! Dusty Red Canvas No14:2

This pleated split leg apron has proved popular since I launched it 18 months ago, so I’m trying out some new colours and fabrics – this is the first of 3 new ones coming before the summer. This is a lovely colour, sort of ‘dusty-red-terracotta-dark pinky’ in the same tough medium-weight 100% cotton canvas as the original ochre version.

A very distinctive unusual potters/artists apron but with all the essential features needed for serious workwear. The pleated skirt and front split give excellent coverage and movement, well suited to craft activities that involve being seated at a work bench or potters wheel.

NEW! Green canvas 4:5 apron

A new dusty green colour for the No4:5 range of split leg aprons, in tough cotton canvas which is smooth and close woven so that water and muckiness doesn’t penetrate easily. Perfect for serious ceramicists, painters and makers, the split front makes it especially suited to working seated at the wheel or work bench, giving lots of movement and coverage.

in.themaking.uk shop • Folksy shop • Etsy shop

New colour for No4:5!

The No4:5 crossback split leg apron now comes in a glorious dusty terracotta/red colour canvas – first of a set of new aprons coming to the shop over the next couple of months. Designed for potters, artists and makers, the split skirt allows plenty of movement, whilst ensuring each leg is perfectly covered when sitting at the wheel or work bench. The easy-fit cross strap design means no ties around the neck, or dangly ties coming undone when your hands are covered in ‘muckiness’, and there are two good size pockets for tools, bits and bobs.

I also added a bit of new info to each listing, explaining the value of “a good work apron lasts many years longer than normal clothes. They retain their designed purpose and functionality, and also represent a special creative connection for the wearer”.

in.themaking.uk shop • etsy.com/uk/shop/InTheMakingAprons • folksy.com/shops/adoglikesparky

Kit Bag Boro

The newest addition to my ‘Boro Collection’ The Kit Bag 002, it’s not an apron!!

I’m very economic with apron layouts trying really hard not to waste fabric, only throwing away the smallest slivers of fabric, the rest I keep… piles of it! Some can be sewn together in a patchwork to make individual one-of-a-kind aprons for the ‘Boro Collection’; but some fabrics don’t lend themselves to that, the canvas for example becomes too stiff to drape. As canvas is a traditional fabric for bags I’ve begun to experiment. To understand the size and shapes involved, my first bags are made with larger remnants of fabric, before I move on to making pieced patchwork bags.

The 002 Kit Bag is made from two pieces of ochre canvas leftover from cutting out two No14:2 pleated split leg aprons (see photo – one rectangle is next to me partly under the ringbinder etc). It’s a large bag (56cm x 43cm) easily accommodating an A3 sketchpad, has a drawstring top with orange cord and black cord lock, and dark grey soft herringbone tape straps which are sewn securely with 12 bars of orange stitching.

£78 • In The Making Aprons online shop • Etsy • Folksy

  • Cutting out No14:2 aprons
  • Construction- Last stage: attaching straps – hand sewn tacking, machine sewing and threads sewn in by hand.

Dressing Gown Mend

This decorative visible mend, which I did over Christmas, has given my much loved old dressing gown a new lease of life! I’m rather ashamed to have been wearing it in such a state, the collar was badly frayed and worn, as were the cuffs. Luckily I already had everything I needed to fix it, lovely printed cotton fabric and stripe cotton tape both from The Knitting & Stitching Show a few years ago, and oddments of embroidery thread.

To keep some body to the collar I stitched all the broken threads flat to form a firm base, before pinning the cotton patch over the top and hand sewing with a tiny slip stitches. For the decorative stitching on the patch I chose red and yellow embroidery thread (spliting off 2 strands) matching the colours of the stripe tape. The tape was pinned to the collar seam and tacked it in place and I used red embroidery thread to sew a running stitch all the way round.

Decorative mending tutorial

I’m delighted to have a ‘decorative mending’ tutorial published at From Britain With Love here is a link to it frombritainwithlove.com/easy-visible-mending-with-sequins . From Britain With Love is a blog and directory of ethical UK makers, growers and creatives.

This year two of my favourite cardigans emerged from Winter storage full of moth holes. In years gone by one of them would have been binned but now I see the damage as a creative challenge, thinking of ways to give them a new lease of life.

I disguised the damage with clusters of sequins, and in the process gave them a really unique and personal touch. I was really keen to share this decorative mending idea, because it needs so little sewing knowledge but looks amazing!

Working on a new apron

Lately I’ve been working on this calico toile and pattern, following an enquiry about making a split leg tie apron like the pleated No14:2 but without pleats.

Pleats help give a lot of fabric coverage, so without them the apron needed a much bigger skirt overlap – but it does give lots more space for a much bigger skirt pocket, an angled pocket with sections for tools and a loop to hang your cleaning cloth!