Tweaking for The Perfect Jumpron

OK. I know I mentioned Jumprons in some post, but I can't find it and am not going to spend the next five hours hunting for it. Oy. I drive myself crazy.

So anyway: Jumprons. My newest obsession. They're a cross between aprons--the long chef's apron kind of thing--and jumpers. Maybe they're actually really jumpers, but they don't seem like just jumpers to me, so I'm calling them Jumprons. And, yes, I'm obsessed.

This was the first one--you saw it already:

Then this one below was the next incarnation. For the one above, I curved the hem. I didn't really like that and wanted it to be fuller at the bottom. For this next one, I copied a shape from some Bryn Walker piece I only vaguely remember--I tried it on at Dillard's and didn't really like it, but when I started thinking about other shapes, I thought I'd give this one a try (I bought a lot of chili pepper red linen on clearance and had been saving it for just such experimentation). I think the BW garment was a summer shift with a cowl neck, maybe. I can't really remember.

It hangs like this when you wear it, of course:

 This was OK, but it's kind of fussy at the bottom: if you walk rapidly and/or if the wind's blowing, the tails kind of whip around your legs. So while I'm happy with it, it wasn't a shape I wanted to use as the standard.

The next one is better. It's a lot longer--knee-length in front, and then the sides hang down further. I made it thinking I'd want the longer length to wear over both jeans and leggings: when I wear leggings, I like to have a top that comes to right below my knees. Short tops--even mid-thigh--just look tacky with leggings. I'm sorry, but they do. Even if you're skinny and in good shape, leggings and shorter tops are going to make you look like you--

Well, never mind. Let's just leave it at this: if you're wearing leggings, let's go all the way to the knees with the tunic, OK?

So the one below is longer. But eeeek: because it flares out, it's really kind of big. And while it looks good with leggings, it somehow doesn't work with the jeans (skinny jeans). It just looks huge and bulky and shapeless. I was kind of disappointed. I always think I'm larger than I actually am and then look in the mirror and see a scrawny chicken wearing a gunny sack. Eeeeek, indeed.

OK. So the next version is exactly the same pattern but shorter (it looks a lot wider but isn't, I swear: exactly the same. I flare it out to the full width of the yardage, and this is all the same fabric)--about mid-thigh (and then the sides hang down, maybe a little below the knee). this one feels right: it's a flattering length, it doesn't do anything weird (tangling around your legs and trying to hobble you) when you wear it, and--best of all!--I can make one out of 2 yards of fabric, a Big Deal when you're using heavy linen because, honeys, that stuff is expensive. Yeow. I can get it from DharmaTrading.com for $8 a yard, but if I want an immediate fix, it's $18 a yard locally. So I buy it only on sale--there's no way I'd experiment like this on $36 worth of fabric. It doesn't matter if you can, theoretically, afford it. It's the principle of the matter, and I refuse to go there.

 So I'm going to order some from Dharma and dye it up.  Right now I've got 4 more of these in the works: a black and white one (yikes! I know: where's the color love in that? But it will be OK), a black one with red, a gray one with darker gray, and a blue-dyed one. They're all like the last one, above. All will have huge pockets--that's the main reason I designed this, for the pockets. Also, though, I just like the way they look and how they finish an outfit and how they're blank canvases for anything I want to do later, from appliqué to embroidery to beading to doing a journal garment or a story. I can wear them as they are now, and then when I'm ready to start another project, I can pick one and start embellishing it. And, yeah, that's another reason the shorter length is good: you know me and embellishing. Once I get started, I kind of get carried away. Much better to get carried away on 2 yards of fabric than on 3 or 4. Smaller is definitely better when you're beading stuff to a fare-thee-well, let me tell you.

My standard uniform when it's cold (less than 85 degrees, pretty much) is jeans or leggings and a plain or tie-dyed long-sleeved cotton t-shirt, and then something over it.

Oh! I forgot the other coolest thing about this design: I made the top part where it actually fits--it's not big and oversized--so that the Alabama Chanin-style boleros will fit over them. How could I almost forget this part? This is my favorite part! So: skinny jeans, t-shirt, Jumpron, bolero, and a long scarf around my neck (my neck is happiest if I keep it warm; drafts make me tense up the muscles and that sets everything off).

Here's sort of the idea, only with a Cynthia Ashby jumper/apron I bought that's a little longer than knee length. For some reason, I can't get the color adjusted--the walls are orange, not neon yellow.

Now I've got another project that's nearing the finish line. I hope. It's taken forever, and I'm ready for it to be over. I'm beading an appliqué, and I keep having to put super glue on my finger to keep the blunt end of the needle from slipping into the hole that's formed. Yes, I know: I need to learn how to use a thimble. At this point, though, I think it's going to have to be the super glue.

Thanks for coming by--more soon, I hope! XO