The process

To start the process I took my own measurements for half waist and the length of the apron. I decided to do a 34” length and a 26” waist about 11″ from the top of the apron. I went with 18 inches for the top of the apron. I used the paper to make sure the cut was what I wanted, and I liked how it fit.

Paper pattern.

I then traced the pattern on the red fabric given in class with and added an inch to the edges for a folded quarter inch seam. I finished cutting and hemming the main body of the apron and moved on to making  the neck strap.

Hemmed apron.

To make the straps themselves I took some leftover fabric and cut it into 30in x 4in strips, then folded the long edge sides to meet in the middle, then folded that in half with the folded side in the center.

The neck strap before ironing.

I then ironed and sewed a 1/8 inch seam and a 1/4 inch seem on each side. I made the thread in the center white and the thread on the outside orange. I did this because I thought it looked cool. At this point I realized it would be easier to pin the neck strap if I had the waist straps, so I repeated the process I did for the neck strap 2 more times. I then had to sew the straps on, and I decided to practice my box stitch before using it on the apron because I had never done it before.

Box stitch practice.

After a few attempts I moved on to the apron. I pinned the straps 1 inch into the apron right below the side cut ins and stitched them there. Then I cut the straps to 26.5 inches and sewed a quarter inch seem on the ends of them.

The apron with side straps attached.

Using the straps to hold the apron I pinned the neck strap where I wanted it to be, then untied the apron, and made sure it hung how I wanted. I then used the box stitch to attach it as well.

The apron after adding the straps.

I decided I wanted to add a pocket, so using the pocket tutorial I cut out a paper pattern 12inx6in with an extra 1/2 inch on each side on top 1/2 inch seem allowances on the sides, and 1 and 1/2 inch seem allowance on top. I then cut it out, hemmed it with a matching pattern to the straps for the top hem, pinned it to the center of the apron about 1/2 inch below the waist, and attached it with a 1/4 inch hem and the extra stitching on the top sides.

The pocket fabric being cut.

Reflection

I really like the final fit and look of the apron. If I had to do anything differently, I would redo the hem of the apron because I didn’t know how to handle the corners of it when I did it. They are all stitched straight to the edge because of this, but I am very happy with it overall.

The final product!

I spent 1.5 hours + 1 hour + 1.5 hours + 2 hours on the apron for a total of 6 hours with roughly 1.5-2 hours of it being at the machine.

Cost Estimate

Materials

• 1.5 yards red fabric (with scrap finding): $10.50
• 5 yards thread (with detailing and practice): $0.05

Time

• Labor rate $15/hr: $15 x 6 = $90.00
• Machine overhead rate $5/hr: $5 x 2 = $10

Total: $110.55

With continuing iterations the time spent and cost to make would go down significantly from practice and not having to do fittings. Quality would improve as well.