My First Handmade Apron

First I must confess that I am not very good at sewing, or at least my sewing machine is not very good at sewing!  The bobbin has a mind of it's own and does not like me at all!  We have a love/hate relationship going on!  I love having a sewing machine, but I hate it when my bobbin messes up!  I also  have never sewn anything without someone standing over me with their guidance.

I did sew this dress, but Chrystal had to guide me the whole way even though I did all of the sewing.  I cannot read a pattern - it is confusing - which is why I love the apron tutorials I find.  I made this dress for Revolution Day at church last year.  I am also wearing it tonight for an English Tea Baby Shower.  You may ask me why I'm wearing it tonight?  Because I spent a lot of time and money on this dress and I want to wear it more then once.  It is because of the baby shower I made my first apron - all by myself!

I did not have much money for a shower gift.  This will be Katherine's fourth baby, and we don't know if she will be having a boy or girl, so clothes were out.  She has three boys.  I had been flipping through an apron book a couple of weeks ago and saw an idea for an apron for the mom to wear when she gives the baby a bath.  Saturday I was at Target and saw this cute beach towel(don't you love the colors?), when I had the idea of making one of these aprons for Katherine.  The towel was seven feet long so I can get at least two aprons, and maybe three, out of it.  I found a great deal on the material for $1.68 a yard at Hobby Lobby and thought it went perfect!

I already had the pattern at home for an apron I have been wanting to make for myself.  So I folded the towel and made sure the hem of the towel would be the bottom of my apron.  Of course I can't make this guarantee on each apron cut from this fabric, but that is what will make each apron unique.  I laid my pattern on the towel, pinned it on, then cut it out.  Towel material frays very easily.

Trying to save as much material as possible, I cut the pocket out.  I love this pocket, it is huge - perfect for the baby shampoo, soap, lotion oil and whatever else you need it for!

I then sewed a zig zag stitch around the entire apron and pocket to keep the material from fraying.  I would not recommend skipping this step, it is quick and will save a lot of trouble later.  Remember the old saying "A stitch in time saves nine"?  It's true, especially in sewing!  I then sewed a hem around the entire thing.  Since I had zig zag stitched the apron, I did not hem where I would be sewing the binding on.  I did not want the material too thick there.

This is where the pattern got very confusing - on the binding/ties.  I dragged my pattern and material all the way to church and asked Skye for help - and forgot the directions!  LOL Basically it said to match it up at the arrows then cut one continuous circle.  It was way too confusing for me so instead

I cut it into three pieces and sewed it end to end.  I even sewed down the angles - which was a mistake!  LOL it would have made a nice frame though!  I cut the angle off then folded my ends to the center and pressed them, then folded it in half and pressed it together.

Make sure it is perfectly even and straight!  This s also the binding, not just the ties.  I re-enforced the ties at the bottom with a "trianglesh" shape on each end.  This is another step you do not want to skip or the ties might pull out.  I double stitched across the binding at the top also for re-enforcement.

I made a wash cloth out of the towel material also.  I made a loop with leftover material, it looks kind of like a ribbon shape.  I made sure it was a good size for the button so that I could attach it to the apron.  I sewed it onto the back of the wash cloth.  Make sure to re-enforce the stitching here also.  If I had thought of the wash cloth sooner, I would have found a really cute, big button to sew on.

Here is a time saver tip I learned when I worked for a dry cleaners.  You double the thread before threading your needle to make four strands when you sew on buttons.  It saves time.  Make sure the button is sewed on tight and at a convenient spot for the wash cloth.

This apron was a lot of fun to make, and I will definitely be making more!!  Here's a question for you - would you rather buy a full-length apron or a waist length apron?
Missy