The Crossback Apron Smock

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  While I am waiting on my corned beef to reach tender perfection, I thought I would write about my latest apron style for my shop.  It is a super-cute cross back apron.  When I saw this pattern, I knew that I would have to get it, and I am so glad that I did.

This pattern is McCalls 3063 published in 1971.  As you can see, it is styled as an apron or a bathing suit cover-up, which would be really cute if you made this in a lightweight fabric.  I decided that this style lends itself nicely to a linen/linen blend fabric.  This is how it turned out:

 

 

I love this style - it is so functional and I think very flattering.  One thing I did find was that it was rather straight, and I tend to like my dresses to be more of an A-line.  So, I did a first try at modifying the original pattern slightly to make a slightly fuller skirt.  The apron is cut as a single piece (i.e., there are no side seams), and I wanted to keep that for this pattern.  So I tried enlarging the original pattern piece where the side seam would be:

 

 

 

I only added about 5 inches to the bottom of the skirt (10 inches total).  After constructing another apron with this new pattern, I ended up with this:

 

 

Can you tell the difference?  Neither can I!  At least in the photos.  I can definitely tell a difference in the way it feels when I wear it (I prefer the adjusted design).  And my husband could tell the difference between the two when I was wearing them.  I am going to attempt another pattern modification to get the A-line look that I was going for in the first place.  In any case, I love this new apron style and I think that I already know the fabric that I am going to use for mine.  :)