Once upon a time there was a girl who wore an apron.
She wore it because she was an artist – and a messy one at that. If the paint was out – the apron was out!
It was a lovely apron. A beautiful burgundy fabric. With pockets! (Yes – MULTIPLE pockets!!)
One day the girl got a bit bored, as artists do, especially when they actually have a lot that they should be doing, and decided the apron was a little bit plain. And she was far fron plain – she loved joy and colour and all things whimsical…
So she hatched a plan* to add some colour and whimsy to that apron.
*The definition of plan in this case being – a vague idea to make something up as she went along.
Armed with a set of fabric paints (the cheapest she could find) and some paintbrushes – she set to work, desperately hoping the plan would succeed and that she would not, in fact, completely ruin her favourite (and only) apron.
Initially – there was panic. As she added the paint – it sank straight into the fabric. The colour became invisible. Not the look she was hoping for.
BUT – she persevered… she sketched out the idea with a white coloured pencil.
Then, she did it again, but with a black permanent pen (because the pencil didn’t work) – and painted the whole thing white.
It looked… well, truly awful – however – it was only an undercoat and the girl was still hopeful this could work.
After allowing the undercoat to dry (which took forever… the girl had zero patience) – she returned to add colour. First colour to go on – red of course, the brightest and cheeriest of the colours. Particularly suited to toadstools (which was lucky as that was in fact the theme). Then followed the green grass, and a splash of and pink for the daises. She did think to add a bee – but perhaps that will be for another day…
All of this colour took a few days – as each layer had to dry in between to avoid smudges. The girl did not like this, because, like we have mentioned – she had no patience and wanted the whimsy right there and then.
But finally – it was done! A little row of toadstools and daises, right there on the front pocket of that apron.
Just a tiny touch of whimsy (for now….).
All that was left was to iron on the reverse to “set” the paint. Ironing is not a task the girl enjoyed – but for the sake of the toadstools, she did as directed on the paint packet.
Lessons the girl learned:
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Instead of buying cheap fabric paint, research what may be best for the fabric being painted. She would then have discovered that paint pens (that she already owned) could have been used.
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A task will always take longer than expected. (Ummm – the girl will almost certainly NOT learn from this)
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If you have an idea – even if you really don’t know if it will work – just try it. It may be the best thing you have ever done. (It may not be the best work the girl has ever done – but for a first attempt, she is very proud and will probably try this again sometime. She does, after all, have a lot of fabric paint now…).
I hope you have enjoyed this tale. It was written entirely from the mind of the girl. No AI was used. the girl thought about it – but then felt her own words would be far better – was she right?
If you have any questions about the apron or the painting of it – do contact Jac, she would love to hear from you!
And – if If you want to know more of the girl, her other projects, and learn of her adventures with a tiny teddy bear – those details are below.