Audio Podcast - Marie Antoinette Meets Betty Crocker (Aprons, Ench By Sew-14 )

Hey! The latest Enchanted by Sewing Podcast has been published!

Two Ways to Listen

i)You can listen to the show right on the web by clicking on the this link

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Apronology – Or Marie Antoinette Meets Betty Crocker

A good time of year to consider how rethinking of women’s societal roles and life choices has affected attitudes towards the use of aprons. Free apron pattern download and discussion of sewing techniques.

http://traffic.libsyn.com/enchantedbysewing/CastApronologyMarieAntoinetteBettyCrockerEnchantedBySewingPodcastNov13.mp3

Porque Aprons? – Why study the social and technical science of apron creation in late November?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hindu_festivals

http://www.thekitchn.com/ramadan-when-its-ok-to-eat-and-94989 (In some years Ramadan occurs in December. Due to the lunar and Julian calendar's not being in sync, that won't/didn't happen this year).

http://www.oregonlive.com/cooking/2013/11/thanksgiving_and_hanukkah_conv.html

http://www.foodnetwork.com/holiday-central-kwanzaa/package/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwanzaa


Marie Antoinette Meets Betty Crocker – How and why I got inspired to start making and wearing aprons, kinda late in life and despite strong family concerns about what apron wearing symbolized!

MARIE BOOK
Technicos –A basic free download 3 Apron style pattern on the web. How I create and sew  my favorite style  apron

- Threads Three Free Apron Pattern Download
http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/22423/patterns-for-three-apron-styles/page/all

- Variety of vintage and other aprons that may inspire your own apron designs
http://www.pinterest.com/lrshimer/0sewing-aprons-inspiration/


Final Pensamientos - The Red Headed Chicken Apron
Aprons can tie into representing and reminding us of the emotions involved in a friendship.
http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/11/aprons-chicken-apron.html

Technicos Threadin' The Needle (Hand Sewing)

Co-Pubished with my Sewing Blog 

Me Encanta Coser/Enchanted By Sewing

http://MeEncantaCoser.blogspot.com

Bet you already knew that Thread the Needle is an old children's game, and also a dance step patterned after the game. I always get a kick from learning more about common events in daily life, by reading about old recreational pastimes. 

Though, in historical times, working with a sewing needle was probably about as typical an activity as other domestic tasks, I've never heard of a game called Wash the Dishes (though let me know if you've heard of one!). I'm guessing that's because dish washing is a more straightforward process. Hand needle threading has always been just ever so slightly challenging. And of course you often come up against it when you least want to deal with that finicky little task. These days we can typically change into another shirt if we rip a seam heading out the door, but only a generation or two ago, that might not have been an option. It was your day clothes or your Sabbath garment. So you quickly threaded a needle and ran up the seam. And it was just as important as it is today,  to get that thread into that needle eye quick-like-a-bunny.

As I've already mentioned in my post about threading a sewing machine needle, a little spit goes a long way. Yes, I lick the end of the thread (and I do wash my hands before I sit down to do this), but I also spread a little, well I just have to say it again - spit - over the eyehole of the needle. Just as in the case of the machine needle, the water molecules want to buddy up, and the thread is more likely to be attracted to the eye of the needle.

My other favorite needle-to-thread technicos include... beeswax. You can buy beeswax in the notions department, but I keep the stumps from the beeswax candles I buy from the farmer's market and use those. (I like to support those businesses because, and I know you know this too,  local honey promotes good diverse hive health, which is one of those save-the-planet kinda things. Agricultural mono-culture is a big concern for the future of my favorite fruits and vegetables.) Beeswax stabilizes the thread and makes it easier to push through the needle - less fibers on the end of the thread to push against that tiny needle eye.

Also I always make sure to cut the end of my thread at an angle. That makes a point that slips through more easily. I learned this from the same Viking Sewing Machine dealer who taught me the spit trick!

These are the tips that keep me in stitches. 

About.com has needle threading tips, including - but not limited to - those I use
http://sewing.about.com/od/beginner1/tp/needlethreading.htm

Definition
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thread-needle

Dance Description and cool wood cut illustration from Webfeet
http://www.webfeet.org/eceilidh/dances/thread-the-needle.html