nelly don

Nelly Don Zero-Waste Apron (part 3)–Construction steps

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After looking at the life and career of Nelly Don the iconic Kansas City designer in Part 1, and then deciphering the diagram for her 1925 patented zero-waste apron in Part 2, here in Part 3 are the apron construction steps.

The Apron and patent drawings:

  • https://www.hhs.k-state.edu/news/2008/10/10/costume-museum-to-debut-historic-nelly-don-apron/
    Photo from Kansas State University

Last week’s post provided measurements for drawing and cutting out the pieces, like this:

  • The pockets will be shown in green fabric for visual contrast.

Nelly Don designed the apron to be sewn in one sitting, without having to remove it from the sewing machine. So now in Part 3 we sit down at the sewing machine and start constructing:

These are the chronological construction steps:

  • Hem all free edges
    • Side Panel (C) top edge
    • Pocket (D) top edge
    • Back (B) centers
  • Sew a Pocket (D) on each Side Panel (C)
  • Join Front (A) to Front Yoke (E)
  • Join Backs (B) to Back Yoke (F)
  • Join Side Panels (C) to Backs (B) and then to each side of the Front (A).
  • Join Front Yoke (E) to Back Yoke (F) at shoulders.
  • Hem entire lower edge
  • Bind neckline
  • Sew ties to back pieces at the waist line.

Here are the above-listed steps in pictures:

Hem all free edges (shown in blue)

Hem all free edges.

Sew a Pocket (D) to each Side Panel (C), along the bottom edge of the Pocket, right sides together.

Then flip Pocket right side up, and top stitch across lower edge of Pocket.

Join Front (A) to Front Yoke (E), right sides together.

Join Backs (B) to Back Yoke (F), right sides together.

Join Side Panels (C) to Backs (B), right sides together. Catch the pocket side in the seam.

At this point, the your pieces will look like this:

Join Side Sections (C) to Front (A), right sides together. Again, catch the pocket side in the seam.

Join Front Yoke (E) to Back Yoke (F) at shoulders, right sides together.

Tada! Now you have your lovely apron. To finish it, turn under and hem entire lower edge and the armholes; bind the neckline; and sew ties to the back for the closure.

How about some finished examples? These were my practice attempts:

  • My favorite.
  • I love how the border print fell into place on all sides.
  • (The yoke seam is wavy because it is pinned for adjustment.)
  • This was the most faithful to a 1920s version. The fabric is reproduction feedsack, and the apron is entirely constructed with the binding foot.
  • No amount of practice with the binding foot will ever make me good at it.
  • This one was constructed with a serger. Very fast and easy.
  • A closer view of the serger construction. I don’t care for the look of the exposed serger seams.
  • A contemporary version in a slightly shorter length.
  • My very first attempt. *cringe* The proportions came out all wrong. The fit resembles a baby doll pajama top.

This wraps up the Nelly Don apron series. My obsession with the patent drawings has been satisfied…for now; although I do keep thinking of more ways to experiment with it. Have you made a Nelly Don apron? I’d love to hear about your experience with it.

Nelly Don Part 1 is here.

Nelly Don Part 2 is here.

Back to 2020, Series 6 of The Great British Sewing Bee is about to conclude. It’s been a fabulous series of talented sewing contestants and their creations. Last week was ‘Hollywood Week’, and it did not disappoint! https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1148109945557937

Two weeks ago was ’80s Week’, and it was full of larger-than-life creations and personalities. https://www.facebook.com/greatbritishsewingbee/videos/568722604082017/

Nelly Don’s Zero-Waste apron (part 2)–measuring, drawing and cutting the pieces

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The drawings of KC designer Nelly Don’s patented zero-waste apron, so intrigued me, that I committed myself to working out the measurements and construction process for the apron. My post last week about Nelly Don and her apron design (including a downloadable copy of her 1925 apron patent) is here.

And now, for the measurements and steps to cutting out the apron…

The 1925 patent diagram shows a single layer of fabric. For my apron, I concluded the fabric needed to be 48″ long and 36″ wide (1 1/3 yds x 1 yd).

Drawing the diagram.  Start with the measurements across the yoke and work out the rest from there. 

From there you can work out the width of the side panels, and the front and back pieces:

Here’s the process in a step-by-step slide show. If helpful, it can be viewed on Youtube in full screen; pause and rewind as often as necessary.

For shaping the simple round neckline in the yoke pieces, here is a pattern you can download and print on an 8 1/2″ x 14″ (legal sized) sheet of paper:


apron-yoke-patternDownload

I tried some different dimensions and measurements for the apron layout, but the version I’ve described above is the only one that really worked. Some problems I encountered when varying the dimensions were:

  • Narrowing the yoke width also means the side panels become narrower, which makes the side pockets too narrow to be useful.
  • A longer/lower yoke meant the side panels became shorter, which made for a shorter apron; which then made the A-line angle more exaggerated. Alternatively, if the hem length were maintained, it made the side panels sit too far below the waist, or not extend all the way to the hemline.
  • A shorter/higher yoke made the side panels longer, which made them come up higher to the waist. This made a smaller, tighter waist because the front and back pieces are narrower at that higher point where the waistline is located.

So, there you have the apron pieces. Nelly Don designed the pattern so that the entire apron could be constructed without ever having to remove it from the sewing machine. I’ll tackle that in the next post…

Nelly Don’s zero-waste apron design

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In 1925, Ellen “Nell” Donnelly, Kansas City based designer and manufacturer of women’s clothing, patented this iconic apron design.  It was designed to minimize waste of fabric, and economize assembly and production.  For the wearer, the apron was designed to:

  • easily slide over the head
  • provide full front protection
  • not slip off the shoulders
  • accommodate large sleeves; and
  • allow for maximum arm movement.

Nelly Don Handy Dandy Apron photo from KSU collection -- resizedNelly Don patent drawings

(Apron photo from Kansas State University.)

The company manufactured the aprons and also sold the pattern for home sewing.

Nelly Don apron pattern
Image from https://sites.google.com/site/apronhistory/home/1910s

Nelly Don apron ad
Image from https://indygojunction.com/blogs/indygo-junction-blog/nelly-don-vintage-made-modern-inspiration-from-a-kc-legend

Nelly Don led an interesting and sometimes dramatic life; always following her own personal code, and taking innovative care of her employees for the times.  She used the apron to keep her manufacturing company going during the Great Depression, and thereby kept her employees working.  She promoted women to management positions.  She offered health care assistance, high wages for the time, a pension, and work breaks with food and drink.  In 1931 she and her driver were kidnapped and held for ransom.  When unions attempted to organize her employees, she fought the unions in a marathon battle, keeping them at bay by showing her employees were better off than union members.  Here is a photo from her clothing manufacturing company in the Kansas City Garment District.

Nelly Don factory
Image from https://www.pendergastkc.org/article/bitterest-battle-ilgwu-and-unionization-kansas-city-garment-district

The story of Nelly Don, her garment manufacturing company, and her apron, have been expertly told elsewhere.  Check out these links for more about her life and business:

There’s a musical about Nelly Don’s life.  More info here: https://nellydon.com/pages/about-nelly-don-the-musical

There’s a fact-based novel about her abduction and rescue.  It’s a really good book.  I call it a must-read.  I recently finished the Kindle version, and as the Amazon reviews say, it was fast moving, well researched, and a quick read.  I would have loved for it to last longer. https://amzn.to/2XFjGOY

The Abduction of Nelly Don: Based on a True Story by [Patrice Williams Marks, (Jake) The Indie Editor, Brian Schell]

The Apron Patent:

The Nelly Don apron patent itself is brilliant reading.  Click on the image below to download a pdf copy of Nelly Don’s Apron Patent (4 pgs) :Nelly Don patent p2 of 4This 3-minute video has great images and footage from Nelly Don’s 1920s operations:

Nelly Don’s life in one minute:

Now, back again to the famous apron:

From reading about Nelly Don and her apron, I formed a small obsession with re-creating the apron from her patent diagram.  After several attempts, I believe I’ve conquered the challenge!  Stay tuned for the next post.