Boo-ya! An apron!

I finished one of my Christmas gift projects last week: a pleated apron for a friend who helps us out with childcare for Mac Mini and is just generally a very generous, fun, and creative person.  I used Amy Butler's In Stitches book again, only this time I stuck to the pattern (not my strong suit...I always want to tweak things before I know how to put them together properly).  I used a really mod grey-on-white patterned fabric for the apron body and a bright saffron color for the trim, waistband, and ties.  And here's what happened:

I rocked those pleats like a friggin' hurricane.  I measured accurately (shock), pinned like crazy, basted, and it turned out perfectly.  Turns out following the directions leads to a superior product!  You'd think that my pastry chef brain, which is really quite nitpicky and measures everything, would be able to translate that quality to sewing, but no.  Not usually.  Just this time.  Let's take a look at the pocket and a closer look at the patterned fabric (this picture was taken pre-ironing, so don't judge).

Yahoo!  Yee-haw!  Now I'm ready to make another one for another dear babysitter.  These colors are "aloe" and "asparagus", and quite apropos for the lady friend for which I am...for who it is...uh, who it's for.

The greens are a deeper olive in real life.  The lighting in our apartment in the winter is wretched, and my flash just makes things worse.  You get the idea.  I'll post pictures of the finished green apron when I get around to making it.  Voila!