This apron is the product of my blood, sweat, and tears. Blood — imminent when working with sharp objects, sweat — imminent when in Houston at this time of year, and tears — imminent when you witness this lovely creation and weep for JOY. When we first received this project,, I faced a huge dilemma when deciding between green or red and white checkered fabric. In the end, I went with the red and white one because it looked like a picnic blanket and red is one of the colors for Brown College, of which I am THE SENATOR. Now, I will take you through the highs and lows of making my apron :).

STEP 1: Cutting a Template

My first hurdle was making an apron design so the apron aligned well with my body. To create a rough draft apron, I measured and cut out butcher paper to my measurements. Since the butcher paper was not wide enough, I had to cut

two pieces and tape them together. Once I cut the butcher paper and put it to my body, I realized I didn’t like the boxy design template we were given, so I modified it slightly to go in more at the top and create a steeper angle. Once, I tried on the paper apron, I laid it on top of my fabric and pinned it down for tracing. I traced an inch away from the template because I wanted an inch inseam to clean up the sides better.

STEP 2: Sewing the sides

After I had my general apron cut out, I had to sew in the sides to make the nice(r) edges of my apron. I starter by folding the top edge in by about half an inch and securing it with pins then sewing the edge down. Then, I folded over again so the edge was that of my initial dimension and sewed it down again. I continued this for all 8 edges of my apron. I think the hardest part for me was threading the needle because I have worse vision than I thought.

STEP 3: Sewing on Straps

After I finished the main body of the apron, I moved onto the straps! The straps were most fun for me because I got to use the box stitch method and it felt like more of a challenge because the shapes were interesting and it was a smaller space. I overestimated the length I wanted for my neck strap so I sewed it tighter again. and used a box stitch to disguise the mess-up. I also sewed on the side straps and tried on the fit!

STEP 4: Pockets!

Sooo now that I felt more comfortable with sewing and I got to see some of the incredible aprons other students made, I felt inspired to add pockets. Please keep in mind that I’ve never used a sewing machine before this experience so everything I made for this project isn’t the highest quality but I’m still proud of it. I wanted HUGE pockets so I could fit my entire hand in it and put all of my tools there too. I used scrap beige fabric because I liked the material and it felt durable. I cut out vague U shapes, sewed in the edges, and then placed it onto the apron and sewed the pockets in place. After the pockets were added, the apron felt complete and I was happy with the final result.

Cost Estimate

• 1 yard of fabric: $9.90
• scrap fabric (1/12 of a yard): $0.83
• thread: $2.69
• labor (8 hours at $10/hr): $80

Total: $13.42 in materials, $93.42 value with labor.

That’s all!! Thank you for reading through this and supporting me in my apron-making endeavors!

BSWB,
Megan