Besties, I honestly did not read the instructions fully, however, I started with the beginner instructions to get the dimensions and then got inspired by others and used my previous sewing skills (which I overestimated my skills) to create an ~unique~ pepperoni colored apron.

Process: I started by drawing the outline of my measurements (22 in. by 32 in. with a 8.5 in. neck line).

After doing this I did think that it looked a little large, however, I continued and reasoned that I might make a mistake later on, but really now finishing, I think that was my first mistake.

The next day when I was drawing the outline on my fabric, I realized I had enough fabric to make a double sided apron. The guest TA (Sasha) had mentioned how she would sew pillow cases and that is basically what I ended up doing but in the shape of an apron. I also saw Vanessa create her own straps which I thought looked really clean so I also did that with my left over fabric.

I sewed everything inside out and then flip it over afterwards so none of  my stitching thread could be seen.

Making the straps took told trial and error. I originally made them thin for aesthetic purposes, however, the fabric was too stiff to flip inside out with such a small width. Then, once I recut and sewed an inch wide strap. I flipped it and sewed it in; but the first time I had forgotten to sew the end before flipping and it didn’t look good.  So I remade the straps and used the one that was not sewn on the ends to be the neck strap (because the ends are sewn in between the two layers).

After sewing one side of the apron again with the new strap, I had the idea to add side zippers that basically make my whole apron into one large pocket. I sewed the side zipper which is something I have never done before and honestly doing it to be flipped inside out was really confusing.

I made two large-ish mistakes when I did this: 1) The first zipper I did I had the zipper go from down to up which was awkward and I only noticed after I did the second one better and 2) I did not leave the same amount of black strap showing on the zippers. I was going to redo the zippers to fix this but I had already redone the first one to be the correct orientation and was worried that since the black straps of the zipper are elastic that it would be messed up if I kept redoing it and earlier when I messed up, because my bobbin was lose, undoing the stitches left little holes in my apron which I did not appreciate and I didn’t want more. Also since the pockets are not noticeable when you look at the apron I thought it was fine.

In the end I left a small whole to turn the apron inside out from. Then, I hand sewed the hole which is on the bottom corner of the apron.

If I had given myself more time and actually took time to plan what I was doing, not spontaneously putting zippers, it would have turned out better. Additionally, I don’t think the hole I sewed in the end was very strong because I was trying to make it look unnoticeable without extra stitches. However, now I feel like it would break if I placed something heavy in that corner of the apron.

Another adjustment I would make is creating the apron as a whole smaller. I think I overestimated my size and the amount of extra fabric I needed in case I made mistakes, however, I think it covers up well in case I am doing a project that involves a large mess.

Cost Estimation:

Raw materials (Fabric, Thread, Zippers) ~ [1.2 x 4] + [2/3] +[17/50] ~ $6 

Labor (5 hours x $14) ~ $70

Machine time/Facility Tools ( Machine, scissors etc. 5 hours x $15)~ $75

Overall, I used estimates of similar products/services that I found online and the 5 hours I took to create this to get a total production cost of  about $151. If I were to do this again I would have taken more time to plan my apron and to be aware of small details like the orientation/width of the zippers before sewing (perhaps watching a tutorial).