Busy, Busy, Busy Aprons

The project to make Busy Aprons for late stage Alzheimer's disease and dementia patients is almost over.  There are just a couple of more embellishments to attach to one or two aprons and a few more to deliver and this project will move off the books for a year or two.


I am so very happy to see this one finished.


It's not that I didn't enjoy making them but that, unlike the other charity projects I have worked on lately, this one required a lot of thought on the part of the maker to produce a useful product.


For instance, with wheel chair bags, there is a set size and construction process.  With as little as twenty minutes work you can produce a very good product that can be used by many.


The Busy Aprons do have a set size and basic construction technique but it takes about an hour to make a basic product and almost two to get all the embellishments chosen and securely affixed to the aprons.


In addition, this project seemed to spark the interest of a lot of people but, once again, my faithful crew did most of the work.  Mega kudos to the beautiful Susie, energetic Lish and generous Janetta for their many, many hours of help.  I must also thank the many people who contributed stuff for the aprons including many yards of fabric and trims plus buttons,beads, appliques and other bits and bobs..


In the end we have finished twelve aprons and I have enough 'stuff' to make at least a dozen more.  For now, the extras bits are going into storage for the Quilt Guild garage sale in about 18 months...unless someone wants to make more before then.  If they do, I will be able to help them along with pre-cut apron kits and lots and lots of embellishments.


Here's some of what we produced over the past few months:

Great example of a Busy Apron with lots of things to touch and feel while sitting.  Goal is to have at least seven different textures/things to play with on each apron.

Want to make your own Busy Apron for a friend or family member?  Basically you take an apron approximately 36" wide by 36" tall and add a lot of things to it that you think someone would enjoy touching.  That's all there is to it.


Some things to add to the apron include pockets, buttons, beads, zippers, shoe laces, ribbons, trims, odd bits of heavily textured fabric, bows, braids, small stuffed animals, appliques, sequins, pearls, faux keys, grommets, snaps, Velcro, lace and the list goes on and on and on.  We added a small whistle to each one just for fun.  They can be removed but I read somewhere that it was a good exercise for your lungs and mouth to blow a whistle.


Next up:  Baby Hats!