Hanky Dresses with Aprons

These Hanky Dresses; all with aprons, are a specialty style that was born out of necessity.  You know the old adage, "Necessity is the mother of invention." Well that was exactly the case with each one of the dresses pictured below. 

The aqua dress on the right was the first dress I ever made that I put an apron on. I had this charming Southern lady hanky; but there was a problem. Most of the hanky was badly damaged with rips and holes. This one corner was in great shape and I was mulling over what I could do with it when that magic light bulb came on. "Use it to make an apron!" 

Both of these aprons are made from damaged hankies, as well. The apron on the Christmas dress serves a dual purpose. The bib of the apron conceals a less than desirable bodice design on the dress.

Both of the above dresses were created at the request of my clients from undamaged hankies. The lavender one is very special because it was created from her grandmother's hankies. The pink dress was created using two of another client's childhood hankies. You can find the complete story on that one here - N is for Nancy.

This St. Patrick's Day Dress is another of my early apron creations. I had this wonderful but badly damaged Irish linen hanky. Zoom in so you can see the sweet little shamrocks in the lace. Is that special or what? These aprons can be very tedious to make because the seams are so small and they must be made to fit the dress exactly.