A Good Day for Fabric Finding!

The other day, I got brave desperate and loaded both my kids into the car, headed for the fabric shop. I had a new custom order that I had to get fabric for, and a hankerin' for some thrift store fabulousness.

First stop, the fabric shop. I was pretty happy with what I found! I had been tasked with making a set of three matching aprons (one for mommy, two for her toddler daughters) for a woman I'd never seen. All I knew about her was that she is originally blond, currently brunette, and picky. (Yeah...try finding something that will flatter that!) I ended up picking out that beautiful teal cotton on the bottom of the stack. The accents (straps and hem) are in the white floral cotton. (The other two pieces of fabric are Just For Fun, because I loved them and think they'll make awesome aprons!)

After the fabric shop came the thrift store! Oh my goodness - I think they'd just unloaded a big shipment. The shop was full of fun stuff. Below are my fabulous fabric finds.

From top to bottom:
1 plaid pillow case (for a boy apron?)
1 navy pillow case (again, boy apron)
1 plaid top sheet (boy apron - seeing a pattern here?)
1 vintage floral top sheet (girly spring aprons, here I come!)
2 hand-embroidered pillow cases (I thought the embroidery would make a sweet accent on an apron bodice)
1 lace-edged bed ruffle (the lace will go to trim up some of my aprons!)
Oh, and I couldn't leave out these two beauties.

I found the doll just sitting on the toy shelf. She had no price tag, so they gave her to me for just $1! She's handmade, and (probably?) Chinese. (We're a Chinese/American family, and I'm always looking for appropriate Asian toys for my toddler girl.) My daughter fell in love with her new "dolly". I know you can't see it in the picture, but she's got the most gorgeous blue silk shoes. Her face is hand-stitched and her pajamas are luscious orange silk. (Satin? I'm awful at naming fabrics.)

The tea pot was in a set of three near the front, by the cash registers. It was the only Chinese one of the three teapots, and only $4. He's sitting on my kitchen shelf now, with two other teapots his same size. Isn't he adorable? Not a chip, not a crack on him.

I got to work on the custom aprons when I got home, and finished them a few days later. Here's one of the toddler aprons, modeled by my own little girl. (We call her Bubba Jyu. Can I just call her BBJ from now on? It's much easier than typing "my toddler daughter" over and over!)

The apron's not quite done. All three aprons are sewn up, but I need to add a little patch with some embroidery to the bodices of all three, mostly so the two little girls can tell their (nearly identical) aprons apart! Any suggestions? I was thinking of embroidering their first initial on a piece of white cotton, and then patching it on to the middle of the bodice.