My first project for BIOE 555 was to make a work apron for the rest of the semester!

The first step I took involved taking measurements of my waist and chest. Using these measurements in conjunction with the provided sizing guide, I traced an outline of my apron onto a piece of pattern paper. I made sure to add about half an inch of extra fabric on every edge to account for the hem.

Once the paper was marked to a size of my liking, it was cut. I used this paper to guide me as I cut the fabric.

 

I also cut out a few long strips of fabric to make the neck strap. Instead of using the same material as the waist strap, I wanted to make a softer, cushioned neck strap to ensure I don’t have any painful rubbing during my long days of work!

 

Rather than going immediately into sewing, I first wanted to iron my fabric at the edges so that it would stay in place as I was feeding it through the machine. I decided to employ a double fold hem, where the raw edge of the fabric is folded over twice before stitching. This results in a cleaner look and helps to prevent fraying. After ironing, the edges looked like this:

 

For the neck strap, the fabric was first folded in half, then each raw edge was folded under. A single stitch down the right side should serve to create a clean edge with a hollow center.

 

Finally, it was time to move on to sewing. My practice stitches were going well, but the bobbin ran out of thread after about 30 seconds. So, I had to refill it. First, I removed the bobbin spool from the sewing machine.

 

I then loaded it onto the bobbin winder and began refilling it.

 

After a short time, the bobbin was full. I then removed it from the bobbin winder and reinserted it into the machine. After replacing the bobbin and rethreading the machine, I was ready to continue stitching.

 

Unfortunately, my initials stitches did not come out very well. Instead of the zig-zag pattern I hoped to achieve, I got somewhat of a jumbled mess on one side and straight lines on the other.

                                                           

 

I immediately assumed this was a problem with the tension of the thread. After inspecting the stitches, I intuitively deduced that the upper thread was under greater tension relative to the bobbin thread. I lowered the sewing machine tension in an effort to resolve this, and I got better, but inconsistent, results.

 

The pattern was apparent, but several stitches were skipped in the process. I consulted the internet in an effort to diagnose the issue and discovered the factor of bobbin tension. I again removed the bobbin and conducted a few physical tests. I read that when held by the string and jerked, the bobbin should drop slightly and stop. In my case, the bobbin fell continuously, suggesting that the bobbin tension was too low. This matched up with my earlier diagnosis that the upper thread tension was too high relative to the bobbin tension. I found an appropriate screwdriver, tightened the bobbin, and reinserted it. Then, I got the following results:

 

A beautiful stitch! The long process of trial and error yielded a result I was quite happy with. I continued to hem the edges of the entire apron. There were a few thread snaps and another bobbin refill, but everything went relatively smoothly.

Next, I moved onto the waist straps. To clean up the edges on these, I folded the end over itself, stitched across the strap, and then cut off the excess. The result was a neat, unfrayed strap end.

                                     

 

I then attached these straps to the waist of my apron using a box stitch. For the box stitch, I used a straight stitch on the sewing machine rather than the wider stitch I was using before in order to increase my level of precision.

 

After the waist straps were attached, I moved on to the neck strap. As I mentioned previously, I wanted my neck strap to be cushioned. So, I took the strap I sewed earlier, filled it with long excess strips of fabric, the stitched the ends shut. This resulted in a long, thick strap that would fill its role perfectly.

 

When measuring and fitting the neck strap, I felt that my apron was too wide at the neck. Despite my best efforts to ensure that I was happy with all dimensions before cutting, I decided that a change would be beneficial. Rather than re-cutting the fabric, I decided to just fold it over and re-stitch. This change is not visible from the outside of the apron and still appears neat and clean on the inside of the apron. So, even though I had to make a change, I was still happy with the result.

                                      

 

To attach this neck strap, I again used a box stitch. The machine had to thread through many layers of fabric, but I took it slowly and ran into absolutely no issues.

 

Finally, my apron was complete! The result is something I was incredibly happy with, and I look forward to wearing it for the rest of the semester.

 

In total, I calculated that this apron cost $209.80. This total included the cost of all materials, the cost of using the equipment, and the cost of labor I performed at various steps in the production process. This is a lofty total compared to what a similar product would cost at your local store, but this difference can be attributed to the efficiency of bulk manufacturing (and potentially cheaper outsourced labor).