Apron Sew-A-Long Part 3

Ready for part 3 of the apron sew-a-long?  Time to finish up those aprons and start wearing them!  If you missed any of the previous posts, you can find them here – part 1 and part 2.

Now it’s time to make the binding for the apron.  First lay your fabric and draw lines with a water-soluble marker 3.25″ apart (these will be your cut lines).

Line up pattern markings so you can cut one continuous strip once you sew binding piece in a loop.

Sew the seam to form a loop with your binding piece.

Cut on the lines you drew.  You will now have one very long piece of fabric that you will use for binding both sides of the apron as well as the neck and back ties.

Fold the binding, wrong sides facing each other, and press.

Open the binding and fold each side, wrong sides together, to the center fold crease.

Now fold along the center crease and give the binding a good press.

Now your binding is ready to attach to your apron.  First cut your long piece in half.  Now you’ll want to find the center of your apron side and center of your binding piece and pin it to the apron.  When you attach it to the apron, you’ll need to open one of the sides of your binding so the right side of your binding and the right side of your apron are facing each other.  Pin in place, then sew the binding to the apron only stitching on the outer crease line.

Fold the binding on the center crease and around to the back side, pin in place.

Now using an edge stitching foot, start at one tail of your apron strap and stitch until you get to the apron.

Keep stitching on the apron and then back off on the rest of the loose strap.  This step closes the ties and secures it to the apron.

Repeat on the other side and viola, you have your very own apron!  Pat yourself on the back and tie that apron on – you made an apron!

Here is my finished apron.  I love the stripes.

Thank you to all who participated in the sew-a-long, I hope you found it helpful.  I have enjoyed sharing a little about sewing with the readers of Not Dabbling in Normal.  I’ve decided to end my little sewing series.  School is starting in a few weeks and my family is traveling down a new-to-us path, we’ll be homeschooling our four children this year.  I’m super excited, but can only imagine I’m going to have even less time for writing posts.  I need to clear off my plate and make sure our school year gets off to a solid start.  Have a great rest of your summer!

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Apron Sew-A-Long Part 2

Are you all ready for part 2 of the apron sew-a-long?  My apologies for not posting two weeks ago like I was supposed to.  We went camping and I forgot about my post – oops.  Love those long holiday weekends, but it messes with my mental calendar and makes me think that Tuesday is really Monday.

If you need a refresher of where we left off, please peek at this post.

Now that the apron is all cut out, we get to start sewing!  First up is tackling the pockets.  Remember I’m using McCall’s 2947.  The instructions for McCall’s 5358 should be very similar, but I didn’t check them out so I have no idea if they follow exactly.

On the front page of your instruction sheet you see the bottom is titled “Sewing Directions”.  It shows the first step is attaching the pockets.  I honestly don’t follow the directions exactly.  I do my own thing with pockets. You’re welcome to follow their directions of you can follow mine.  My are a little simpler and that is the beauty of sewing, you can construct things how you want to.

First I fold down the top raw edge of the pocket 1″ and press to crease.  If you use your eagle eye, you can see this is actually the top of the apron and not the pocket.  I went ahead and did the pockets and apron top in all at the same time (apparently I don’t follow directions very well).  So you might as well just press the top of your apron over 1″ at the same time as you’re working on the pockets and get that part done too.

Next you need to finish the raw edge so it doesn’t unravel in the wash.  If you have a serger or some sort of overlock function on your sewing machine you can finish the top edge of your pocket(s) and top of apron that way.  I chose to use my pinking sheer blade rotary cutter to treat these edges.

Next you stitch down the top fold so it stays in place on both the pocket(s) and apron top.

Set aside your main apron piece and we’re going to focus solely on the pockets.  You need to fold the remaining three edges to the inside using a 5/8″ seam allowance (aka fold your raw edges in so they measure 5/8″ on your little seam gauge ruler).  Press.

Now place your pocket(s) on the front of your apron using the pattern piece as a guide.  Remember the pattern piece is only a guide so if you like your pocket(s) placed differently (i.e. higher, lower, closer together, etc) do what you like.  Afterall this is YOUR apron! 🙂  Also a reminder that I made two square-ish pockets because I personally like two pockets.  This is the reason I sew, so I can do what I want. 🙂  When you have your pockets just right, pin them in place on your main apron piece.

The pockets are now ready to be stitched down.  For a professional look, stitch close to the edge of the pocket (about 1/8″).  I use my edgestitching foot as you can see in the photo.  The edgestitching foot makes it so easy to sew in a straight line.  My stitch length is a 3 on my machine.

Next stitch about 1/4″ away from your first stitch line again at a stitch length of 3.  If you used an edgestitching foot, you’ll need to put your regular foot back on before completing this step.  You’ll end up with two lines of stitching about 1/4″ apart.  This makes a nice, durable pocket.

Viola, the pockets are finished!

Let me know if anything is unclear, until next time…Happy Sewing!

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Apron Sew-A-Long Part 1

Alright, does everyone have their apron pattern and fabric?  Well let’s get started!  To begin you’ll need either McCall’s 2947 or McCall’s 5358 and 1 3/8 yd of fabric.

My apologies if this is too elementary for some of you.  I want to make sure it’s easy for everyone to follow along and successfully make an apron.  If you’re a gung ho sewer, by all means blaze ahead.

So first, you need to cut out your pattern pieces.  I’m using 2947, so that was pieces 13, 16, & 17.  Actually you don’t have to use 16 which is a pocket.  There are a number of pockets which you can use in this pattern.  I chose 16 and actually cut the piece of fabric in half to make two separate pockets because that is what I personally like on my apron.  You can put whatever pocket(s) on you’d like or leave them off altogether.

Next you need to lay your fabric out.  Make sure you have it on grain.  You can see with the stripes it’s super easy to find the grain of the fabric.  Below is the cutting layout shown on the pattern instruction sheet.  Secure your pattern pieces to your fabric with either weights if you’re using a rotary cutter or with pins if you’re using scissors to cut.

Here is a close up of the grainline on the pattern matching up with the grain of the fabric.

Once you have cut out your fabric, it should look like this (remember I chose to cut the one big pocket in half to make two smaller pockets)…

Let me know if you have any questions.  Next time we’ll start the sewing process!  I’m really pleased with how my apron turned out, the stripes make it so fun and summery!

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Apron Sew-A-Long

With the big holiday weekend coming up, I thought it would be a great time to get all our supplies gathered for our apron sew-a-long.  I know many of you might prefer something more frilly and girly, but honestly because this is supposed to be a beginning sewing project, I picked a very simple apron style.  I want everyone who participates to be successful and be excited about what they made.

You actually have two choices.  If you have a Hancock Fabrics nearby, the McCall’s patterns will be on sale this weekend for 99 cents.  Or if you don’t, I found an alternative that is the McCall’s Easy Stitch n’ Save pattern (regularly $2.99 low priced which you can buy at Joann’s, Hancock, Wal-Mart, etc).  The Easy Stitch n’ Save patterns are the same pattern with only a limited number of views.  Either way, you’ll be working with the same pattern.

The first choice is McCall’s 2947 ~ view F.  Click on the link and you’ll be able to see the line drawing – it’s the basic one with the neck ties the model is wearing.  This will be the one on sale this weekend for 99 cents.

The second choice is McCall’s 5358 ~ view C (the ones at the bottom of the picture).  This one is everyday low priced at $2.99 and is not in the pattern drawers, instead it’s usually on some sort of large rack or wall display.  If you can’t find the Easy Stitch n’ Save patterns just ask a store employee.

From looking at the information on the McCall’s website, both patterns are one size fits most.  You will need 1 3/8 yards of 45″ wide fabric or 1 1/4 yards of 60″ wide fabric.  Most fabrics you’ll pick will be 45″ wide.  Denim is typically 60″ wide, but novelty prints and quilting cottons are 45″ wide.  You can find the fabric width on the end of the bolt and when in doubt, ask a store employee for help.  The envelope suggests Cotton and Cotton Blends • Chintz • Gingham • Calico • Canvas • Denim • Polished Cotton for fabric choices.  And remember, all this information is on the back of the pattern envelope if you forget while you’re at the store.

So get your engines started sewers, we’re going to sew an apron!  We’ll start this in a few weeks.  What I plan to do, is post step-by-step and then you can follow along.  It will take a few posts to get the apron completed so no one gets overwhelmed by too much going on.  One last thing, don’t forget to get thread and needles for your machine when you’re at the fabric store and also please prewash your fabric.  If you have any questions, post a comment so I can address it.  Hopefully I’m not forgetting anything obvious.  Have a great Memorial Weekend – I hope you all get to enjoy some nice weather! 🙂

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