Squid aprons. How do they work?

Right now in the shop all of my aprons for the year are available.  They also include free shipping until July 25th.  The code is APRONS4ALL (add during checkout).  Here's a little back story on the aprons.

A few years ago my mother-in-law gave me some adorable vintage aprons (along with some slips that I wear constantly under dresses).  A few of them I kept plain and use in the kitchen but there was a lovely orange full-length bib apron that seemed perfect to have a little squid mascot on the shoulder.  So I set to work.

I sold the rest that year at shows and since then I keep an eye out at thrift stores, yard sales and etsy to find suitable aprons.  I like to find ones that have solid colors or subtle prints, that way the squid can shine through in all its glory. I have all of my aprons purchased by the end of December so I can work on them in the winter months since they do take awhile to even prepare for hand sewing the squids onto.  I try to get ones that aren't too damaged or stained but all of them require a good soak, then wash.  After that is a copious amount of ironing.  It takes hours.  Then I repair any holes or tears I find or secure ties.  This year I replaced some of the gold thread that someone had sewn over ricrac.  That was actually pretty fun.

After this I spread out all of the aprons and decide on the color of the squid and what accessories they'll be holding.  This usually takes an evening or two of me sitting on the floor with felt samples and aprons and test squid seeing what I feel would look the best.  Every 20 minutes a certain cat is removed from the area.  Once I decide on everything I make a list of the squid color, accessories and placement on the apron that promptly gets tacked on the to-do board.

Next up is very carefully seam-ripping any pockets off that squid will be attached to and then marveling at the insane amount of hand-work women of yore did so perfectly.  This step is pretty tedious and afterwards requires more ironing.  After that I can begin sewing the squid and accessories.  Then I have piles of this on my desk and various shelves.

After the squid are embroidered on it's back to the ironing board. After this I machine sew all of the pockets back in place.  Then, more ironing.  After that, it's picture time. 

Normally the process is finished in April since I work on the aprons in between custom orders and more show squid.  Usually there's one apron I get attached to during this time.  This one below is so close to not being for sale but, I can't keep them all so I offer them up and hope they go to a good home.