An Exercise in Improv

Last week I volunteered at my son's school to help the art teacher with some of her classes. She teaches art to the entire school. I noticed immediately that she was wearing an apron made from various quilting fabrics that I recognized. What I didn't know until she started talking to the kids is that it was a new apron to match the style of art that they were going to focus on - abstract art, made up of lines, shapes and color. They were starting with Wassily Kandinsky's concentric circles.

After the class, she told me that she had been searching Etsy to find an apron for the next major artist that she was going to focus on, Piet Mondrian. Well it was her lucky day that I volunteered in her classroom. I told her that I was a quilter and could easily make her an apron.

She sent me more info on the artist, along with this video as inspiration.

UPDATE: Want to learn more about Piet Mondrian? You can check out more here on Artsy.

Of course, taking on this project really pushed me as an quilter since it was all improvisational with lines and colors. I was surprise that it got much easier as it went along and I wasn't overthinking the pocket panel. The main part of the apron is heavy weight decor fabric (actually leftovers from when I hemmed my bedroom curtains). Since it was going to be for art, I wanted it to be a bit heavier duty.

There are things that I think I might do differently if I were to make it again, like thinner black lines, but overall I'm very pleased with it. And it make a cute looking skirt too! I should have worn pants instead of shorts for the photos.

Tonight was the elementary school's open house for parents to come with their children to see their classrooms, what they're working on, and give them a tour around the school. I took that opportunity to give it to his art teacher. Happy to say, she absolutely loved it.