This week, we had to try our hand at sewing! I have never sewn before, but after all of my family members shocked that I never had to take Home Ec in high school, I was determined to take on the task.
I started with getting familiar with the sewing machine and technique. It took a while to figure out how to sew in an even, straight line, but once I got the hang of it I felt prepared to sew an apron. I practiced on the square below first, trying my hand at folding corners and box stitches.
After this practice, I felt ready to measure out my apron on paper and cut my fabric into shape. I found it a little difficult to draw straight lines as you might be able to see from my paper, and I decided to leave a 0.75-inch margin around the apron for fabric that I would fold over and sew.
My initial plan was to fold over the fabric once and sew the seam. Unfortunately, it didn’t occur to me that I should fold the fabric over twice to avoid leaving the frayed edge out. This double-fold proved difficult to do evenly along the apron with a 0.75-inch margin, and I wish that I would have left a 1-inch margin for ease of folding. I used probably more pins than I needed to pin the fabric down before sewing.
The hardest part of this project by far was figuring out how to sew the folded corners of the apron. This linen fabric was already on the thicker side, but I really struggled to find a way to make a pretty seam where the corners met. In fact, I ended up breaking a needle attempting to get through my last corner.
I completed most of my sewing using the Singer machine on the BIOE 555 table, but I completed my last corner stitches and box stitches using the industrial sewing machine. In hindsight, I wish I had started with this machine; it was way easier to use than any of the machines on our tables!
After researching how much it would cost to make an apron on an industrial scale, I compiled the prices and listed them in the table below. Some apron components had highly variable pricing, such as fabric, so I priced these based on similar products that I used (e.g. the price per yard of linen fabric). In addition, some components, such as the engineering and design, could (and were in this case) designed by hand rather than purchased.
I can’t say I loved sewing, but I do think it’s a good skill to know. I just bought some pants that I need to take in, and maybe I will try doing them myself!
