To begin making my workshop apron, I used a tape measure to measure out the size of it, and made a pattern of my apron on the paper.  While making the paper pettern, I left about an extra half an inch of material on each side, so that I can fold the edge of sew it later.

After that, I cut out a piece of vinyl (roughly) the same size and shape as my pattern.

One technique I learned from the sewing fabshop last semester came in really handy in this project, that is — to pin the edges, which kept the fabric in place and made it a lot easier to turn the fabric around when reaching a corner.

 

 

 

I started sewing on the regular Singer Sewing Machine, and had some trouble with the top thread, which kept coming off :/  Therefore, I figured pressing the pedal slowly and steadily was the way to go.

 

Making the box-stitch was probably the most challenging part of this project for me because I had  very little room to work with.

 

 

 

After completing the basic apron, I moved on to making pockets.

I considered making them with fabrics in different color and texture but realized that doing so may defeat the purpose of using vinyl (durable and waterproof) in the first place, so I decided to stick with the same type of material for my pockets.  Although, if you look close enough, you will notice I intentionally cut out the black-ish grey part from the large sheet of vinyl for my pockets to switch up the colors.

 

For the second pocket, I made a cap with a button for it, so I can put my phone or other easily-damageable and cost-a-lot-to-replace items in there. The button hole maker at the OEDK was lost (sadness, but the moral lesson from this–put everything back after using it…), so I had to make the button hole by hand. This process is demonstrated in the figure below.

 

Disclaimer: this approach of making a button hole was solely based on Doris Xu’s imagination and was figured out on the spot when she realized there was no button hole maker at the OEDK.  It is NOT backed up by any YouTube tutorial or intelligent authorities. 

 

In case you are looking for a button hole made with appropriate tools and procedure, here is a comparison (the “envelope” can be found at the OEDK sewing station).

Finally (drumroll) the finished apron: