I was really excited about this sewing project since I’ve never used a sewing machine before. I’m fascinated by the thought that went into designing these machines and the way that the thread travels through hooks and corners, every placement with a purpose.
I realized I didn’t save a full-body picture with my apron, other than this blurry selfie. As a big fan of earth-toned colors and fun patterns, this fabric immediately caught my eye. It felt a little bit firmer than some of the other fabrics, which made some aspects of sewing easier and others harder.
To begin this process, I had to draw the apron on pattern paper with my desired dimensions. I used the provided sizing for guidance but ended up trimming a lot so it’d fit as I liked. This resulted in me accidentally cutting off more than necessary and having to tape back pieces of paper. To get the most symmetrical apron possible, I folded my pattern in half when making cuts. My first struggle began with cutting the actual fabric, since the fabric scissors weren’t giving me the clean cuts I wanted. This wasn’t a big issue since I was planning to fold in the edges anyway.
The next step was for me to fold over 1/2″ of the edges and pin them before sewing them. I pinned down and sewed one edge at a time, making sure to neatly fold the corners where the edges overlapped. Thinking back, something I would’ve done differently is to use the iron before pinning to get flatter edges. Since my fabric was a bit firmer, this would’ve helped achieve cleaner edges.
Although it was my first time sewing, I decided I wanted to challenge myself and try my hand at industrial-quality sewing with the OEDK’s very own Juki TL-2010Q sewing machine. Before putting my fabric under the needle, I spent a lot of time watching YouTube videos on how to use the Juki machine and reading the user manual that it comes with. I practiced what I saw/read by winding and threading my choice of yellow-gold thread on the bobbin. Overall, the process didn’t feel too different from that of the Singer machines, and I had zero issues during the entirety of my sewing. After setting it up the first time, I never had to touch the bobbin or thread the needle again. I really like the fact that this machine has a button to raise the needle, instead of having to spin a wheel towards me.
After practicing on scrap fabric, I finished sewing my folded edges and looked into how to create box stitches to attach the neck and waist straps. I practiced this stitch the most, and one of the challenges for me was figuring out how to get the diagonal lines to fit perfectly in the corners of the box. I tried counting the stitches in my head, slowing my speed, and making marks with pencils on where to start and stop. However, not all of my box stitches turned out how I would’ve liked, so this is a skill that I’ll have to continue practicing.
Finally, it was time for me to create my zippered pocket. I found this YouTube video to be really helpful, especially because at this point I was too tired to try it out on scrap fabric first. The challenges I faced during this step were getting clean cuts when cutting out the pocket rectangular opening, aligning the zipper in a centered position with respect to the pocket opening, making sure not to sew over the zipper teeth things (this can break the needle), and securing the corners of the zipper while sewing. 
What really helped me at this point was using the iron to flatten the green pocket fabric along the opening. I also pinned down the edges of the zipper but made sure to remove each pin right before the needle was about to go over that section. This helped me hold down the zipper, keeping it as centered as possible while sewing. Additionally, I simply cut off the zipper teeth on the far edges so that I wouldn’t have to worry about breaking the needle by sewing over them.
Last but not least, I had a half hour to spare and decided to make a small name tag patch for my apron. Pivoting around the needle is definitely a skill that needs more development, but it helped that my name is made up of straight lines that are easy to follow.
Overall, this was a fun and rewarding experience for me. I feel more comfortable working with a sewing machine on my own, and I’m really glad I pushed myself to add the zippered pocket despite never sewing before.
Cost Model for Sewing Manufacturing
| Cost Type | Cost | Price | Source | Quantity | Total |
| Materials | Fabric | $8.99/yd (apron) | Joann.com | 1.5 yd | $13.49 |
| $4.99/yd (pocket) | Joann.com | ⅛ yd | $0.62 | ||
| Thread | $0.02/yd (use 5 yd) | Joann.com | 1 (125 yd) | $0.10 | |
| Zipper | $2.99/ea | Joann.com | 1 (9” long) | $2.99 | |
| Straps | $1.40/yd (use 2.5 yd) | Amazon | 1 (5 yd) | $3.50 | |
| Labor | Sewing Operator | $17.64/hr | salary.com | 4 hr | $70.56 |
| Prototyping Engineer (You!) | $39.29/hr | salary.com | 1 hr | $39.29 | |
| Overhead | Facility Cost (Machine Time) | Consume 100W for 5 hrs at 8.68¢/kWh | energybot | 0.5 kWh | $04.34 |
| Quality Control | $20.56/hr | indeed.com | 1 hr | $20.56 | |
| Design | Engineering and Development | Find free apron template online | $0 | ||
| Iterations | One iteration/apron | $0 | |||
| Misc. | Waste and Scrap | Unused thread | $2.69 | ||
| Unused strap | $3.49 | ||||
| TOTAL | $161.63 |
Using rough estimates, the total for making this apron in Houston, TX using the Juki machine comes out to $161.63, or $155.45 without accounting for waste/scrap.
