When you use a downloadable pattern from a personal website, it’s a crapshoot as to what you might get. I took a gamble on FleeceFun’s Thankful Apron because the finished apron design was very cute and it had a professional looking pattern print out. Unfortunately, I wasn’t as impressed with the instructions. Not only were they a bit ‘skimpy’ (a good example is sewing the apron skirt: it mentions sewing the sides, never the hem. Either this is an omission or the author just assumes you’ll know to eventually do this?) but they were a little confusing – I had to read several parts of the instructions several times to get the drift of what I was supposed to do. There are also numerous spelling errors which leads me to believe that there was little to no proofreading before it was published. Speaking of errors, if you decide to add the ‘belt’ in the middle of the apron, you’ll need to cut a third waist tie, not the neck strap (the neck strap isn’t long enough).
Putting aside all the ‘issues’ I had with this tutorial, the finished design did turn out really cute. I love how the neck strap is tied on the side and I think that the Amy Butler fabric works really well with the gingham check print (which I also used for this apron) – when you put them together they really have a romantic and fun Valentine vibe. The best part? This apron looks so much like a pretty dress, everyone will be thinking you’ve dressed up when you wear it!
Between Superbowl cooking (and eating), I managed to find enough time to sew up one project over the weekend… a Valentine half-apron. I think this one just screams, “I’m so sweet!” To create this look, I used 
I was recently given a $25 gift certificate to shop for apron fabrics at a new-to-me online shop called 
