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January 2006 - Apron from Clothes
It was a no-brainer to use the collar of the
shirt as the collar of the apron. I started by cutting the shirt apart at almost all
of the seams, I left the collar attached to the front of the shirt, and the back attached
to the yoke, but other than that, I just cut along the lines. I then removed the front
pocket and cut diagonally through the front of the shirt to make the bib portion. I
didn't leave enough material to turn under a seam, so I used a package of white bias
binding that I luckily already had to finish all the edges.
I cut the back yoke straight across and sewed
that to the bottom of the apron bib to make the waist line. I love the way this all
came together. It's a little too long for me, but it really looks so cool. I sewed
the pocket I had removed from the front of the shirt on to the apron skirt with a
simple zig zag. In this picture you can see the crappy job I did of sewing the shirt
sleeves on as the ties. I couldn't figure out how to do this correctly, it probably
would have help if I had spent even 10 minutes planning this part of the of the apron. 
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September 2005 - Dish Towel
I tapered the top of the towel slightly
to be the bib. The hardest part of the whole project was getting the neck
loop the right length. Long enough to loop over my head, but short enough
so that the apron still covered the majority of my shirt. Because anything
that shows will likely end up with something on it. I just used a simple
zig zag stitch with white thread to sew up the straps.
The side straps are sewn on right
where the top stops tapering. I wanted the straps to be a little higher
than normal so that I would have full use of the bottom half of the apron.
I'm always using this part to dry my hands, pull pans out of the oven,
wipe up spills, and dry the dishes I need to wash during my cooking, so I
didn't want this apron to be too tied down. I also decided not to add a
pocket, which was pretty hard for me, because I need pockets on everything
I wear (except t-shirts - what exactly are you supposed to put in those pockets?)
I just really liked the simplicity of the apron without the pocket. Although
you can't tell from my grouchy expression!
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July 2005 - Pink Lemonade
I sewed the pocket on to the apron
before attaching the apron to the waistband, so I decided to pleat the
apron instead of gathering it in the hopes that this would somehow allow
the extra large pocket to lay flat. Well, it didn't really work, but it
came close. I also decided to tie the white part of the pocket into the
waistband by using the thinnest white binding tape I could find. I wanted
to make the apron look light and airy, so the thinner the waistband the better.
I always have trouble sewing on binding with a straight stitch, especially
binding this thin, and there is always several sections where I don't catch
the back of the binding. Hence the zigzag stitched I used here. This way
I knew I wouldn't miss the back of the binding and I think it makes the apron
look a little more playful.
I really love how this pocket turned out! The yellow material is a scrap left over from the quilt I made for my niece Sarah Jean, and I thought it was the perfect bright sunny yellow for this apron. I just cut out the biggest circle I could out of my scrap, sewed on the white portions, and sewed it inside out to a circle of the white material so I could turn it inside out and try to get a nice smooth edge. Well the edge isn't so smooth, but it's good enough for me. I topstitched around the edge and then sewed the pocket to the apron sewing over the same stitches. I simply zigzagged over the raw edged of the white pieces to attach them. I'm not sure how well this apron will hold up to frequent washing because of that, but I don't plan on allowing it to get that dirty! |
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June 2005 - Home on the Range
I decided to cut the fabric along
the bottom to follow the curving rope, which would give the bottom of
the apron nice scallops. The one thing I had to purchase for this apron
was 1/4" brown binding to match the 1" binding I already had. The 1"
binding was just too wide to fit around the scallops. At the top of the
apron, instead of gathering, I made five 1" box pleats. I really like
how this turned out, I like it more than gathering and it was actually
easier to do once I figure out where to place the pleats.
Since I couldn't figure out how to make a pocket work on this apron, I decided to make a matching pot holder instead. I sewed a nice big vintage button onto the 1" binding waistband, and then added a loop to the top of the potholder so it could hang off the apron until you need it. I'm really happy with everything about this apron, except possibly the sloopy stitching when sewing the binding on the potholder, my only excuse is that I was getting tired. When I started this apron I thought I was doing it just for the submission and that I would never actually use it, now I can't wait to have a bbq so I can show it off. |
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I took me about a week to figure out
what I was going to do for this submission. I was actually ironing a shirt
for Chris when inspiration struck. I was ironing the back yoke with the box
pleat and I thought that detailing would make a cool skirt. It didn't take
long for that to translate into the apron skirt. I decided that I would make
every part of the apron out of one button down shirt. So I went to the thirt
store to find a couple of men's shirts to play with. I found three plaid shirts
I liked, and decided to start with the blue and white plaid because it was the
lightest one. Unfortunately, this material turned out to be really hard to
photograph well. I've tried to make the pictures big enough so that you can get
an idea of what the apron looks like, but it's still pretty blurry.
I'm not sure I even want to admit
how hard it was for me to come up with an apron design that I liked
using a dish towel. I actually bought another towel to use for this
project, but once I got started, I just couldn't figure out how to
make it work right. So I went downstairs to have dinner and grabbed
one of these great Martha Stewart towels that I bought at KMart to use
as a hot pad. I love these
Let me just start by saying how
much I love pink lemonade! There is almost nothing better than iced
cold lemonade on a hot day, especailly if it is pink and especially
if it is mixed with vodka! Yummy! That has always been one of my
favorite summertime cocktails. Right away I new I wanted to make a
pink apron with a lemon slice for a pocket. The trouble was finding
material that was the right color and that all coordinated together.
I finally gave up on the perfect light yellow for inside the lemon and
just went with a really light-weight white material. When you see the
apron in person, the bright yellow material shows through a little
making the white material appear a little yellow.
When I first read that the theme
for the first Tie One On submission was Home on the Range, I was
completely stumped. I love the idea of making an apron every month,
especially since I collect vintage aprons. I probably have about 15 - 20
different aprons, and I wear about 8 of them on a regular basis. So
I already have a built-in interest about all things apron. I was
determined to come up with something for this first submission, so I
pulled out my two Rubbermaid tubs of quilting and cotton material to see
what I had. I found this great cowboy panel that I bought several years
ago thinking that I would make something for my nephew Joe. But once I
got the fabric home, I was never able to come up with anything. The
paneled material is perfect for curtains, but I didn't think much else.
And I figured that no three-year-old wants to get curtains for their
birthday or Christmas. Lucky me! Because now I didn't think I would have
to buy anything for this apron. I even found 1" binding in my stash that
was the perfect brown color.
