For the first project in this class, we sewed aprons! I love that we made something we’ll actually be able to use over the course of the semester. Last week in class we practiced setting up the machines with the top spool and the bobbin, and sewing in a straight line. I have done a little sewing before in home ec class in middle school and for my senior design project, but it’s been a few years. We had a little trouble getting the bobbin loop to pull up, but after some practice we got the hang of it.

For my apron, I chose this cute, whimsical arrow fabric.

I started by arranging the fabric so that the arrows were pointing in the direction that I wanted, then cutting the fabric according to the measurements provided for a size small. I added a little extra to the height so that I could adjust the length of my apron by hemming. I used a Sharpie to mark one inch in from the edge of the fabric on all sides.

On my next day I worked on hemming all the sides. I pinned one side at a time, and sat down at a machine that was already set up with some fun magenta thread. I thought I would be done with the hemming in no more than 30 minutes, but I had a lot of trouble with tension. The thread was too loose at first, and I had lots of bunching up and tangling while doing the initial reverse stitch to lock in my stitches. I increased the tension to 6, but it still seemed too loose in some places. It was better, though, so I continued around all sides of the apron. In the future I would like to fix the tension issue so that my stitches can be even and flat with no tangling. I also only folded my hem once, but the best practice is to fold it twice and then sew because it looks cleaner. Something to consider for next time.

On my third work day, I added the straps. Emily and I tried setting up the industrial sewing machine, but the bobbin thread kept getting cut and tangled, so we went back to the more basic ones. The box stitching for the straps went well. I didn’t always hit the corners perfectly, but I’m sure that comes with practice. After doing the side straps, I tied my apron on to measure out the neck strap and realized my apron was WAY too wide at the top. I didn’t want to cut and re-hem, so I folded the corners in, and used the box stitch to attach the strap and hold the neckline in the new position at the same time. After some practice, my box stitches were looking a lot better! Back at home, I used some fabric glue to hold down the pieces I folded in. If I had sewn this part down, it would have shown weird stitching across the chest, which is why I used glue instead.

Finally, I considered the cost of making this cute custom garment! A lot higher than I expected, and I now have a lot more appreciations for seamstresses and tailors.

Cost Type	Cost	Price	Source	Quantity	Total
Materials	Patterned vinyl fabric	$24.99/yard	Joann.com	1 yd	$24.99
	Thread	$2/spool	Joann.com	Fraction of a spool	$0.25
Labor	Sewing Operator	$20/hr	Bureau of Labor Statistics	5.5 hrs	$110
	Prototyping Engineer or industrial designer	$37/hr	Bureau of Labor Statistics	1 hr	$37
Overhead	Facility Cost (Machine Time)	$200 for one machine, $0 for rent	https://finmodelslab.com/blogs/operating-costs/sewing-workshop-operating-costs, https://www.onlineclothingstudy.com/2013/03/how-factory-overhead-is-calculated-in.html	Assume 3% of machine and rent costs	$6
	Quality Control	$18/hr	Bureau of Labor Statistics	30 mins	$9
Design	Engineering and Development	Assume this was already done in advance, since the material was selected for us and instructions were provided			$0
	Iterations	$37/hr for the prototyper to develop a new pattern	BLS	Only one iteration	$0
Misc.	Waste and Scrap	$1	Assume nearly negligible amounts of unused thread and fabric for a single apron		$1
				Total	$188.24