The only sewing experience I had prior to this project was (jankily) hand-sewing together a thin piece of fabric to a prosthetic hand in ENGI 200. The extreme amount of frustration I remember while completing that task forever tainted my view of sewing. Going into this project, however, I would be enlisting the help of TECHNOLOGY (a sewing machine), which would hopefully make the process go a bit more smoothly. And thus, the project began.

I started by using the pattern paper provided to measure a shape to my approximate measurements. I noticed the suggested neckline looked a little too wide for me, so I shaved off an extra 1.5″ from each side to crop it a bit.  Once I was satisfied with the look and fit of the pattern paper, I pinned it to my fabric and began to cut the shape. Using fabric scissors made a HUGE difference in the quality of my cuts, and I’m glad that I performed a test cut on the extra material before cutting the final shape of the apron. The final measurements were: 16″ neckline, 32″ apron length, and 22″ 1/2 waistband length. Finally, the material was ready to be sewn.

Next, I started sewing the seams. I folded the material in by about 3/4″, pinned it in place, and ran it through the sewing machine. In all honesty, even though I practiced on a small piece of scrap material, my seam came out fairly crooked. However, as I got a feeling for using the sewing machine, by the third seam, they were adequately straight. Below is a picture of one of the edges hemmed and one ready to be sewn.

Next came the dreaded box stitches. This was the most troublesome step for me; none of my box stitches were particularly “boxy”, but a stitch was somewhat accomplished. During this step, while trying to backstitch to seal the box, I accidentally stitched the rest of my neckstrap to the apron and had to use a seam ripper to detach it.

Finally, my apron was complete. Despite going half-crazy trying to figure out how to sew a straight line, I am incredibly proud of the end result. I had just successfully (?) made my first piece of clothing, and, after sending a quick picture of it to my mom and sister, I cleaned up any loose threads and the project came to a close. Throughout the process, I learned to slow down with the stitches and be patient, and gained a newfound respect for clothing-makers.

Cost estimates:

• $5 for 1 yard of fabric (according to Walmart)
• $1 x 0.3 for thread (according to Michael’s)
• $5 x 0.1  for straps (according to Amazon)
• Labor cost: 5.5 hours x $12/hr = $66
• TOTAL: $66 + $5.80 = $71.80