Many thanks to Susan, who sent me this link from SoVintage Patterns.
First off, I love the zest of the person who thought "Two pockets bad, four pockets good" over there on the right. It's nearly marsupial in its bepocketed elegance. Although if I went to Full Pocket Mania I would be worried that I'd always be patting all the pockets, like the White Rabbit seeking his watch, trying to find my cell phone when it rings. (Vibrate mode in a full skirt is not nearly as locative as you might think.)
The tulip version is pretty too, but how much better would it be if they were little alligator heads, opening their jaws to swallow your stuff? Or bird beaks? Or something else a little less pretty-pretty? Maybe flames, engulfing the pocket contents? There are lots of ways to have fun with something like this. Who says cutesy appliqué is reserved for the under-ten set?
SoVintage has this listed as $38 (!) … click on the image if you must have it.
A Dress A Day 
This is a VERY common listing on eBay, for far less than $38.
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Didn’t Barbie have an apron like the tulip one?
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Oh my god! Alligator heads!I must hurry to my sewing machine. I’ve already got a nice amount of green felt waiting to become something.
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The 4 pocket apron is the precurser to the weight belt. Can you image the combined weight of items in all of those pockets? Great weight bearing exercise to prevent bone loss. Yup, that designer was ahead of her time.Amy
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The folks at SoVintage definitely lead the pack, price-ly speaking. And for some reason my computer shows a tendency to gag when back-clicking on this site: maybe my guardian computer elves saying, “No! No! I know where you can get three patterns for the price of this one!”
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Snapping alligators? Genius!
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I often have similar thoughts about purses–namely, that bags are boring and should not look like bags, but instead like other things, like chrysalises with monarch-wing lining, sea creatures, or robots. Some of these can be found, others I have to learn to make.
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The alligator heads could have googly eyes. Oh no. I do not need more projects right now.
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I love those apron/dresses. My mom and aunts wore them a lot in the 1950’s. Very handy, especially with little kids running all around. Would be wonderful for sewing/millinery classes. Marie from Texas
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Ahem. I’ve got that dress in my closet at home right this minute. I inherited it from one of my great-aunties – it’s in this sort of blueish-grey cotton with bright yellow rickrack and yes, it has the tulip pockets and bright yellow buttons down the back.She made it.
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I love how the lady on the left looks so sophisticated – disdainful, even. “Yes, I am wearing an apron with giant embroidered tulips. Is that going to be a problem?”When did aprons become un-cool? And more importantly, how do we reverse the trend?
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the one on the right reminds me of a costume worn at the annual fall fair I went to as a child, she had an apron covered completely in pockets, and if you gave her one of your tickets you could pick one and pull out your prize!
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Keely: You should be a bag designer! Those are genius. (I’d love to see an alligator mouth bag done in faux alligatorgreen, of course. The teeth could be crystals or oblong pearls.)Joni: But aprons are cool! The magazine I’m helping launch (premier issue hits stands next week, I think) has a whole spread devoted to aprons. (In case you’re interested, and I hope this doesn’t sound sales-pitchy, the magazine is a craft magazine devoted to embellishing stuff, called Make It Mine. http://www.MakeItMineMag.com)
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I looove the flames idea! Body of skirt would be black, natch.
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I looove the flames idea! Body of skirt would be black, natch.
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I love pockets and aprons and I LOVE this pattern! I also use aprons and for such a practical item that gets nasty stuff on it, aprons tend to wear like iron. I am still using one that I made over 20 years ago!
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I, too, love both aprons and pockets AND these wonderful wraparound apron-dresses. Oh, and rick-rack. The fair costume with many pockets for tickets sounds so fun: what a great idea. I have made pieced aprons for family and friends that are kind of like mini-quilts of their favorite things. A bit labor intensive, but fun. Can’t resist vintage apron patterns and vintage aprons, too. It’s great that they are so popular now…except for the competition!Erin–I notice that the word verification is back. Did you know that?
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It’s probably a good thing that that pattern has already sold, because it was way, way out of my budget, but it was MY SIZE. Joni, aprons are cool!
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Have you heard of the old children’s story _Katy No Pocket_ ? It’s not about dresses but it is about a sad momma kangaroo who doesn’t have a pocket to carry her Joey. However, they do find a very happy solution. The artwork is by H.A. Ray the illustrator of the traditional Curious Georges. It’s great for kindergarten teachers doing the letter K.I think that verification thingy is just fine. It’s not that big of a hassle. Keep it on and save yourself the time. Your blog is worth it to me : )JenL
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I love the flower pockets! I could definitely see myself wearing an apron with those. But four pocket? Hmm, feels like overkill and wouldn’t it be hard to reach the bottom ones? It’s still a pretty pattern, though.
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But wait! Replace the tulips with ‘gators, done in felt with darker felt triangles for scales, with jaws (pink felt gums and white felt teeth) ready to snap on the pockets. Then see how many pickpockets dare snatch the contents.
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I have a pretty summer skirt with a scalloped hem that has tulips appliqued to it – 2 of which are pockets!and yes…the alligator heads must have googly eyes!
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Oooh, flames!What about rockets, for a visual joke?
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Have you seen the show Pushing Daisies? One of the main characters frequently wears dresses (and sometimes hats!) that remind me of you. When she put her hands in the pockets of her red dress one week, that sealed it for me.
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How about purse pockets? One can never have too many purses, right?I am yet another apron- (and pocket-) lover. I made a reversible one with coordinating Mary Engelbreit fabrics, with PUL (waterproof fabric used inside cloth diapers) sandwiched between the layers to keep from getting drenched every time I wash dishes. I wear it almost daily. I’ll try to take a picture someday and share it on my blog…I rediscovered my love of aprons after reading Apron Evangelism.With a subtitle like “philosophies on the pleasure & power of aprons,” you know it’s great.Now Erin and ladies, feast your eyes on this blog: Tie One On.Hmmm…maybe this should be another blog post about Erin….
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I love to make aprons for other people, but I never make them for myself (leaving me wearing whatever giveaway apron someone sent me for Christmas). Hmmm… early holiday project?
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Crystal, where do you get the waterproof diaper-sandwich fabric? I need some for couch-throw sandwiches, since there’s now a toddler who comes a-visitin’, and my couches were not acquired with toddlers in mind.It does seem to me as if it would be relatively easy to adapt other patterns to mimic this one, rather than spending $38 for it. If one has the money to spend, that’s great; but I’d be more likely to spend that some on a more complex construction.
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I have been an avid longtime reader and am a big fanboth of dresses and of your wry commentary. I am briefly delurking because I have done the less pretty-pretty pocket thing as part of the Tie One On apron project that was mentioned above. I thought you might like to see it, although it doesn’t have the nice 50s feel of this pattern.Ouch!Anyway…thanks for being so entertaining. : )
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La BellaDonna, I love the Sew Shoppe – they have good prices and adorable fabrics, since of course they’re geared toward making cloth diapers.And, naturally, there’s always eBay…As you can see, there are some adorable PUL prints out there, so you could skip the sandwiching altogether and just make the apron out of PUL itself.***WARNING***This stuff is more slippery than your Uncle Hubert that no one can find, so pin, pin, pin!Happy shopping!
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