The first project involved sewing an apron, which was a bit surprising, since sewing is not exactly what one thinks of when hearing the term Engineering Design (all so fancy!). While I did get an opportunity to witness both some of the oldest and most advanced sewing machines at the Toyota Museum in Japan (yes, Toyota started as a textile machinery company), it was this project that really allowed me to appreciate the complexity and ingenious engineering involved in sewing.
The first step was to cut the fabric into a basic rectangle with appropriate dimensions. Since I wanted my apron to be 32 inches long and 22 inches wide, I cut my fabric into a 34*24-inch rectangle, allowing about an inch of hemming on each side. I decided that the top of my apron would be about 6 inches narrower than the bottom. Since it was my first time sewing, I chose to go with a simple slant instead of a curve to avoid complexity. Next, the sides and top edges (in order) were double-hemmed, using about an inch of fabric. A steam iron came in very handy to ensure straight fold lines, and cloth pins helped keep the fabric in place before stitching. The most important learning in this step was handling the corners and the intersection where the apron tapered. Sometimes removing some extra fabric helped reduce bulk while also ensuring all sides were hemmed with no threads exposed.
Double-hemmed edges
While sewing, I ensured that the stitches were made in a straight line and at roughly the same distance from the edge, using the machine’s reference lines. I learned that while stitching larger pieces, it is important to guide the excess fabric to move along with the stitch to avoid curvy stitches. It also took me some time to get proper hand-eye-foot coordination when using the reverse stitch function. The number of times I removed my hand from the reverse lever instead of releasing my foot was highly frustrating and embarrassing too!
Eventually, the stitches went by quickly and I was almost done until tragedy struck! In order to hem one of the sides, I cut the edge at the position where the apron tapers and it ended up about an inch too deep. Since folding it an extra inch would throw my apron’s proportions off and make it uneven, I scrambled to find a solution. Until… I realized I could do a cool trick with the strap, both hiding the mishap and looking fashionable. Lo and behold the RIGHT TRAPEZIUM JOINT, it features a box stitch on the top right, holding the strap on strong while also restitching the torn fabric beneath, as well as some cool accent stitches on the left edges. Since, I saw a couple of aprons with the strap fabric fraying, I also decided to double-hem all the strap ends.
Double-hemmed strap ends
The Right-Trapezium Joint
With both the side straps and the top strap stitched on, I decided it would be a good idea to sew on a pocket. I started by cutting out another rectangular piece of fabric and double-hemming it on all edges. Then, I sewed it onto the apron. It was a lot harder to ensure the stitch lines come out straight, since there was a lot of fabric weighing it down, so I had to seam rip and repeat once. That was it, and it was time to try the apron on! I realized that the top strap could be a bit shorter and proceeded to double fold and stitch it, making it about 2 inch smaller.
Double folded stitch in top strap.
With this final refinement, my apron was finally completed. It’s an S size, features 2 side straps, a neck strap, and a pocket (albeit extremely low) in a beautiful denim color with orange accents. While this project did teach me a lot about the fundamentals of sewing such as winding the bobbin, controlling tension etc, it also made me comfortable with the process of fabrication. At the start, I was thinking about each step and going really slowly, but towards the end, solutions came naturally and mistakes didn’t feel as frustrating. Refinement and improvisation became an integral part of the process.
mise en place
Finished Apron
The cost estimate is as below –
- 6/5 yards of denim fabric: $12
- 10 yard thread: $0.1
- ~6 Hours of Labor @ $12/hr = $72
Total = $84.1
