Apron tutorial

Hello! I thought I would share with you my apron tutorial. I was fed up with getting paint on my clothes and ruining them and I couldn't find a cheap apron anywhere that fitted me properly (I wanted it to cover me) so decided to make my own.

I have no real measurements for you, I just held the fabric up to me at different stages...I tend to do all my sewing by eye! Also I didn't really take as many photos as I needed to explain what I was doing, but, its pretty simple so you shouldn't have any problems if you want to have a go!!

You will need:

1/2 m of fabric, a bit more if you want your pocket to be in the same fabric (my pocket was 1/2 m wide so it went all across the front of the apron, by 26cm deep)

matching thread

Scissors

webbing for the neck strap and ties

 1. I folded my fabric in half with the fold to the right and then I laid an old apron, folded in half, on the top with the armhole to the left. Notice that the top of my apron is wider than the old apron- I wanted the top of my apron wider so it covered me better but you can cut yours to match your apron if you want! If you dont have an old apron to use as a template just hold the fabric against you and put a mark where you want the curved bit to end and then draw a curve on your fabric (IYKWIM! Sorry, not much good at tutorials!)

 2. Cut through both layers of fabric, following the line of the curve. Ensure you are not cutting on the folded edge.

 3. Along the top edge of the apron I put four small tucks in. This was so that the top bib part of the apron fitted snuggly against me and would not gape. I just held the fabric up against me to see how much I would need to tuck.

4.Pin the hem on the top edge. I didn't do a double hem on my apron but if you like things nice and neat you may want to.

5. Stitch the hem along the top edge ensuring you catch in your tucks.

6. On the armhole edges (the curved lines) make some small snips along the curve with your scissors. This will ensure that the hem will lay flat when you stitch it.

7. Hem the armhole edge

8. Hem down each side of your apron. You then need to hold the apron against yourself and check the length. Mine was a little long so I cut off the excess and then hemmed the bottom edge.

9. Take a length of the webbing, roughly the size to fit around your neck, and safety pin it to one side of your apron ensuring that there is an overlap inside so you can attach it, I left about an inch. Take the webbing around your neck adjusting the length to suit you. When you are happy with it pin the other side in place.

10. Stitch the neck webbing onto your apron. I sewed it in a square shape with an 'x' in the middle to give a bit of added strength.

11. The stitching from the front of the apron

12. Next take the 2 lengths of webbing for the side ties and pin one to each side of the apron, placing them to suit you and then stitch them in place. 

13. Now here I forgot to take a photo of cutting the pocket! I wanted my pocket to go right the way across my apron so I cut a piece of fabric the width of the apron (roughly 1/2 m allowing for the hem) and 26cm deep. I ironed the hem all the way around the pocket before pinning it and sewing it. You dont have to hem it seperately you could just iron the hem and attach it to the apron and sew it straight on, but I didn't think of this until afterwards! After I had hemmed the pocket I folded it into 3 equal parts and pressed it with the iron again to give me two crease lines to sew on to divide the pocket into 3.

14. I held the apron against me to decide where to place the pocket and then I stitched it on, leaving the top edge of the pocket open (obviously!). I then sewed up the two crease lines to make the individual pockets. Sew from the bottom of the pocket up as if you go from top to bottom you may get a gathering of fabric which will bunch up.

15. I added a home made label to the side of my apron. I used my logo stamp on calico.

16. Finished!

I ended up making two as my friend wanted one as well! They fit really nicely and look great and you could decorate them how you want. I was going to use calico for the pocket and hand paint it with some designs to make it truly original but I didn't like the contrast between the deep purple and the calico so went for a pocket of the same colour.

I think I am going to make some more so all the Wight Craft Circle ladies have one for our retreat in February and I may design a WCC logo so we can add that to the front of the aprons.

I hope if you want to try the apron tutorial you can understand it, I have never posted a tutorial before, and please show me your finished aprons!!

Also, big thanks to Paige for taking the photos for me (she's the turquoise apron in the photo!!!).

TFL

Sami x