Easy Apron Tutorial

I have a friend who swears she can't sew garments or aprons. This in spite of the fact that she pieces fabulous and intricate quilt blocks on a regular basis.  You know who you are and this tutorial is for you:>)

This apron is a breeze to make, It's basic, but you can do so much to embellish it that it can be almost anything you want it to be.  Add a ruffle to the bottom, a crochet doily or vintage hankey at the neckline, and personalize the pocket. The list is endless. But it all starts with the basic apron.

I used an old tie on apron for the pattern. You probably all have one of these hanging in your kitchen. Adjust the width or the length any way you want to.

I begin by folding the apron in half lengthwise and lining up the fold with the fold of a piece of muslin that I have ready. No, I didn't iron it, unless it's really badly wrinkled, it doesn't matter.

 I like to line my aprons with muslin, I feel the apron does a better job of protecting my clothes with two layers of fabric and it just makes the apron less flimsy feeling.

cut around the old apron, being careful not to cut your apron strings off of your pattern!

Do you love how out of focus some of these photos are? Me either, but I haven't perfected the technique of using my left hand to press the shutter button while my right hand is busy. Lol. Sorry.

 

 If you want to, use your straight edge and rotary cutter to even up the bottom, and sides.

Lay your lining fabric on the fabric that you want to use for the front of your apron. I dug through my stash and found this pretty rosy blue fabric.  You can do this with about a yard of fabric.

 Cut out the floral fabric using the muslin lining as a guide.

 Lay the muslin on top of the print fabric, and sew the two together on 3 sides, leaving the bottom open. You will be sewing all around where I show the dotted line below, and make sure your patterned fabric is facing inside, because you will be turning the whole thing right side out after you sew the sides together.

 See how these don't match exactly? It doesn't matter. Really, I think it is better to try something and not worry about perfection than it is to be so afraid that you will make a mistake that you feel too intimidated to try at all. This is an apron, I swear, when you are done you will not be able to tell that your edges were a teeny bit off. choose one of the edges to follow and sew. I used a 1/2" seam.

 I left the bottom open.

 Trim the corners, just cut them off leaving enough fabric that it will stay sewn up.

Then turn the whole thing right side out.

 Use a knitting needle or dowel to poke the corners out , they don't have to be perfect:>)

 Iron the apron

 Turn up the muslin side evenly about an inch, and iron,

 Turn under the patterned fabric to match and iron,

 this is how the hem looks, ironed and ready to stitch.

 Sew across the bottom, I also top stitch about 1/2 inch all the way around so that when you wash the apron it stays flat without ironing.

 Use some 1/2 inch or larger double fold seam binding for the ties. I made my own, there are numerous tutorials online, but you can purchase cute bindings just as easily.  Just measure the ties on the apron you used for a pattern or measure the curved part of the apron you just made and add plenty to tie at the neck and in back. better to have too much than not enough.  These ties are each about 68" long and you need two lengths, one for each side. Allow enough to tie around the neck, and then encase the curved part of the apron in the binding and leave the rest to tie behind you.

 Sew the entire length of the binding, as close to the edge as possible.

 I made a quick pocket by cutting two matching halfish circles using a plate as a template. I also made a little ruffle to add to the top of the pocket. I sandwiched the ruffle between the two semi-circles, with the print facing inward. Sew across the top and then most of the way around the circle,leaving a 3-4 inch opening to turn it right side out. Iron, turn the rest of the seam inside and finish stitching. Top stitch the pocket onto the apron leaving the top open.

 Voila! A cute apron that is fast and easy. Having a few of these in your favorite colors and fabrics makes cooking more fun. You can whip one of these up in less than an hour once you know how to do it. And they make cute gifts for friends. And the friend who needed this tutorial should be checking her mail in the next day or two:>)

Happy Birthday Trish!