This week I completed my first ENGI 210 project, sewing an apron. Using sewing machines in the OEDK and various creative tools, I successfully created an apron. Because it was my first time sewing, I opted for the beginner route, spending most of my time learning how to set up and operate a sewing machine. 

After a few days of coming into the OEDK between classes and after hours, I was finally comfortable preparing the bobbin and fully threading the needle. I began by drawing my measurements on my iPad, then measuring on paper. Once my sketch was finished, I used pins to connect the paper to the yard of fabric then traced the paper outline onto the inside of my fabric and cut it out. I added an extra inch to the sketch on the fabric so it would be easy to fold a section over and sew to hide the stitching. 

After the preparation steps, it was time to sew! My favorite part of the process was actually sewing my apron and it went by pretty quickly. In order to ensure that my fabric was steady and my folded edges would stay in place, I added needles to each side I was sewing and carefully removed each one as I was sewing.

Once all of the seams were sewn together for the body of the apron, I measured and added neck and waist straps and was done with the apron. One of the biggest challenges I faced throughout this process was ensuring that I could use the sewing machine on my own as I knew that my schedule would allow for a lot of independent work time between classes and after hours. To solve this, I spent many hours simply practicing sewing and setting up the machine before actually beginning my project.

My breakdown of costs is included below (calculated for a sewing beginner):

Materials:

• Fabric (1 yard) → $10
• Thread → $2
• Pins → $4
• Sewing machine → $15/hr ($60)

Labor: $15/hour (minimum wage in California), total of 8 hours → $120

Machine Time: 6 hours

Total Cost: $196