Katy Yes Pocket

The more Nina and Lila read, and watch movies, the more pseudonyms they have for themselves. The most popular have been Belle, Heidi, Nina Bean the Playdate Queen, and Cinderella. Recently they have taken to calling themselves Katy Yes Pocket when they are wearing their new apron dresses we made.

Katy No Pocket is a storybook from my childhood that my grandmother saved so I could pass it to my kids. It was also a favorite book for my mother, my aunt, and my sister. The book’s copy write date is 1947, it passed through three generations of sisters and it’s still in tact. A bit worn maybe, but there are no ripped or missing pages. Nina and Lila really enjoy this story because it contains problem solving, a bunch of talking animals, and a trip to the big city.I have quite a few souvenirs from my early childhood which was spent living in a multigenerational household. I adored my grandparents and I am glad that I have so many things that are from them. Most of my belongings have spent the greater part of the past six years in storage. Moving to Denver and unpacking everything has been a real (overwhelming) treat. It’s fun to see everything again, and it’s also troublesome to consider how to make use of it all. In particular I had a handful of aprons that my grandmother made. They were only waist-aprons, and I generally cook in full-aprons. One day when the girls were playing dress-up I decided to introduce them into the fray. Nina and Lila immediately loved the aprons for their color, patterns, and pockets. As they played in them I realized that they would make great shirt dresses if they only had straps. And a new project was born.I grabbed my newly unpacked, old sewing basket (that used to belong to Gram) out of the basement, and dug through my jungle of ribbon scraps, and got to work. I let the girls pick the ribbon, then I dressed them in each apron, and measured the ribbon straps pinning them in the front and the back. After that I simply hand-sewed the ribbon down and voila…Four new summer apron dresses!Now if you are going to try this yourself, I would warn that getting things even is the trickiest part. Even though I measured the straps while the girls were wearing the aprons I still used a tape measure to make sure the straps were evenly spaced on the apron and an even length when compared to one another.For all intents and purposes, the dresses fit great and the girls enjoy wearing them and playing Katy Yes Pocket. I’m sure you can only imagine the goodies I find in the apron pockets by the end of the day.

Has anybody seen my keys?