This was the first time I have ever attempted to sew!

It was a great experience and I owe a lot of thanks to Allison Brown for her patience and willingness to answer all of my troubleshooting questions.

My Process

Kenzi and I worked together to cut out our fabric. The approximate size of my apron is 34″ x 24″ and 10″ across the chest. After I had the fabric cut out, I folded in the edges and pinned them so that I could sew a seam along the edge of the apron. I used a light green thread that is not very visible on the blue geometric patterned fabric.

Then, I attached the neck strap and the tie straps with box stitches. I decided to keep my tie straps a little longer so that I could tie them around my waist in the front. Sewing the box stitches was the most difficult part, and I had to trim the threads on the front quite a bit after I finished sewing. If I were to do this project again, I would practice the box stitches on extra fabric before attempting it on my apron first.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cost Estimate

In total, I spent about 3 hours working on this project. One hour was spent actually sewing, and the other two were spent planning, cutting, and pinning the fabric. With an average labor cost of $20/hr, the total labor cost was approximately $60.  I used about 0.9 yd2 of the blue patterned fabric for the apron and about 90 in of strap material. Assuming a cost of about $6/yd for the fabric,  $3/yd for the strap material, and one thread roll is $3, the overall estimated material cost of the apron is $15.90. The cost of the sewing machine and other reusable materials available at the OEDK (e.g., needles, sewing pins, scissors) were not included in this estimate. Including both labor and materials, the overall cost of the apron is approximately $75.90.