Introduction

This apron was my first experience with a sewing machine. Before this project, I had only ever done some hand sewing when I was young. I also didn’t get to try out the sewing machine much during class, so this process involved a lot of trial and error.

The Process

I started the apron the first weekend after it was assigned, working with two other classmates. I followed the instructions for the beginner track, until I noticed that the given measurements for a small apron were too large on me. Instead, I held the fabric up to my body and marked the measurements that fit better. I added an inch and a half on all sides to these marks to account for the hems, then I cut out the fabric. I folded each edge over twice then pinned them in place to create the hems.

Once I was ready to sew, there were quite a few complications with the sewing machine. The main issue was with loading the bobbin and that we couldn’t get the bottom thread to loop around and come out the top. My classmates and I spent a while troubleshooting, watching videos, and rereading instructions until we we were finally able to solve these issues. Then, I was able to start sewing all the sides of my apron. Here, my only setback was when I accidentally sewed the fabric on top of itself and had to rip out all of those stitches. This whole process of measuring, cutting, pinning, and sewing just the edges took me about 2 hours, which was much longer than I had anticipated.

The next time I came to work on my apron, I just needed to clean up the edges and sew on the straps. When I first sewed the hems, I didn’t realize that I needed to do a reverse stitch in order to keep the thread from pulling, so I revisited this step before moving on to the straps. The straps proved to be difficult, since I ran into more issues with the sewing machine when trying to do the box stitches. Eventually, I was able to create solid attachment points where the thread wasn’t pulling and the straps felt secure. Here is my finished apron!

Successes and Failures

I think my main success was that I became far more comfortable using a sewing machine, and, by the end of the process, I could confidently determine the source of some issues and figure out how to solve them. I experienced a few small failures along the way, such as sewing over top of my fabric, not doing a reverse stitch the first time, and having some box stitches that came out a bit messy. Overall, I learned a great deal from this project, and I look forward to improving my sewing skills in the future!

Cost Estimate

1 yd fabric: $4.50 (similar fabric found at Walmart)

~2 yds straps: $4.00 ($10 on Amazon for 5 yds)

Thread: $4.30 (single roll on Amazon)

Labor: $43.50 (~6 hours, $7.25/hour)

Total: $56.30