DIY: Apron Sew-Along, Putting It All Together

As I type up this here blog post, I've got my feets up, my hair down and my Brand New Reversible Apron with Ginormous Pockets on. Yay, it's finished! As I was finishing up my apron this past weekend, I was suspiciously surprised by how smoothly everything was going. I mean, my seam ripper was actually collecting dust! I remember looking at it, flipping my hair and thinking, "Humph! I don't need that old thing anymore, I'm BEYOND mistakes," which, of course, was like The Kiss of Sewing Death. As you'll find out in the following clips, it didn't take me but a hot minute to make a big-fat-hairy omg, my apron is practically hanging down to my ankles mistake. But don't you worry, I'll fill you in on the oops-deets so the same won't happen to you.

Now, if you've not started on your apron yet, lemme direct you here. In this post, I'll introduce you to pattern and pocket making. 

In this here post, I'll share with ya how to do the following:

*  Make your neck strap (which, for some reason, in the vid clip I refer to it as a "necktie". Der.)

*  Make your tie ends

*  Assemble the neck strap and ties ends to the apron

*  Finish off the apron and call it a day!

I'd also like to invite you to share your completed aprons on this here blog!

I mean, you've already been sharing 'em on the Apron Sew-Along Facebook page (which totes makes my day when I see 'em) so why not show 'em off here? I'd love to put 'em all together in one big ole apron-tastic blog post. I know several of you made children's aprons and/or went a totally different apron-sewing route. I think it'd be a blast to see 'em all! To make that happen, I do hafta set a deadline. If you haven't started yet, no worries! You still have plenty of time. Just to give you a deadline, please email me (cassieart75@gmail.com) or share on the Apron Sew-Along page a snapshot of you in your apron by Sunday, September 7th. I'd love a brief description on your fabric choices and where you plan to wear your apron. 

But before we can do that, we gotta finish this thing! So, without further ado, let's get to work!

Neck strap and tie ends. Because I like to have a bow in the front of my apron, I decided to make my tie ends 4" X 30". You could adjust that length, of course. You might wanna cut out a couple different lengths with your wrapping paper, pin them to your apron and see how that length suits you before cutting into your fabric.

If you plan to tie your apron in the back, you could use the same pattern piece for your neck strap and tie ends, thus cutting three pieces of fabric from one pattern.

To stitch, pin those right sides together. As I mentioned, I like the ends of my pins to face my sewing needle. I don't wanna chance running over a ball with my sewing machine. No one likes squished balls. 

For the neck strap, simply stitch the long edge, flip inside out and iron. I have a tool for flipping fabric but you could just as easily use a safety pin or maybe a pencil. Youtube can help you out with tips and tricks on that.

For the tie ends, you'll not only sew the long end but also one short end. To do that, stitch the length of the long end, stop about 1/2" away from the end, lift the presser foot, rotate the fabric, lower the presser foot and stitch the short end. If that run-on sentence has left you confused, see the gif below. 

Make more sense?

To put the apron together, you'll need to pin your neck strap and tie ends on the right side of the apron (it doesn't matter which side). Now, my mistake was pinning everything in and stitching before I tried it on and checked the fit. Go ahead and pin your neck strap on and try the apron on so you can see if adjustments need to be made. Once you've got the fit where you want it, pin the neck strap 5/8" (or whatever your seam allowance is...mine is always 5/8") from the left and right ends (as seen below). For the tie ends, pin them 5/8" from the curve of the apron. 

You'll want to pin the tie ends to the apron body just to keep them out of the way as you stitch. Now, lay the other half of your apron on top of this with right sides together. Pin the top, curved side and sides. Stitch everything except the bottom.

Here I've got my right sides together and I'm ready to stitch everything except the bottom edge.

"I lay mah hands on ya apron and you'll be healed!" (said in my sad attempt to impersonate an evangelist. And that apron needed some healin' as you'll find out in that thar clip.

Here I'll talk making adjustments to my mistake and finishing the thing off.

Because my apron straps were too long, I went about fixing it by seam ripping out just the top of the apron, pulling those straps up, repinning and stitching again.

I snipped off the excess before flipping it right side out.

I finished off the bottom of the apron the same way I did the bottom of the pocket from the last apron post. I simply tucked the bottom inside, ironed and stitched. 

And, there you have it! There are definitely some things I might do differently on my next apron. I think I'd like the length longer and the pockets less tight. But I'm happy with the outcome and the kids have loved the print. I've been wearing it all week and feel kinda naked without it on when I'm in the art room!

Looking forward to see in your creations, kids!