How to Make a Simple Apron

Aprons can certainly come in handy. Whether you’re cooking or crafting, an apron can help to protect your clothes from spills, splatters and other mishaps. And, if you have some free time, a sewing machine, and a bit fabric, you can whip up this simple apron in just a few hours.

Here’s What You’ll Need

• A piece of fabric that’s about 34 inches long and 29 inches wide. The size of the fabric you use can vary depending on how long and wide you want the finished apron to be. After you make an easy apron or two, you’ll get the hang of judging how much fabric you need depending on who an apron is for.
• Matching thread. If using fabric with a pattern, choose thread that matches the background color in the pattern.
• A fabric ribbon that’s about 24 inches long and coordinates with the fabric. This will be for the tie around the neck.
• A fabric ribbon that’s about 40 inches long and coordinates with the fabric. This will be for the waist tie.
• A tape measure or ruler.
• Tailors chalk or a fabric pencil.
  An iron.
• Your sewing machine.

The Instructions

1. When making an apron, choose fabric that’s sturdy, durable and washable. You also want to use fabric that you can toss into the washing machine without any problems. A thick cotton or linen fabric would work well for an apron. You might even try denim fabric if you can find some for a good price.
2. Pre-wash your fabric. If necessary, give it a good ironing to knock out any wrinkles.
3. Lay the fabric wrong-side up on a flat surface. Make sure the shorter length goes from side to side, and the longer length goes from top to bottom.
4. Fold the fabric into thirds across the width. Simply take the right side of the fabric and fold it inwards, and then repeat the process with the left side. Try to align things so that each third is about the same size. If you really want to make your folds exact, you can use a tape measure to divide the width of the fabric neatly into thirds, using a fabric pencil to make your marks. Then you can fold the fabric along those marks.
5. Lightly press the folds with an iron. You’ll be using these creases as guidelines for the next few steps.
6. Unfold the fabric. The two creases you should be clearly visible.
7. Take the top, left-hand corner of the fabric and fold it down towards the closest crease. Have you ever made a paper airplane? Well this step is similar to folding down one of the wings.
8. Press the crease of the new, triangular fold with your iron, and then unfold.
9. Cut off the corner upper left-hand corner. Just cut along the diagonal crease you just made.
10. Repeat steps 7, 8 and 9 with the top right-hand corner. When you’re done, you should have two diagonal edges at the top of your fabric.
11. Fold down diagonal edge on the left side about ¼ of an inch, and press with an iron. Repeat with the diagonal edge on the right side.
12. Using your sewing machine, sew a stitch along the two diagonal folds.
13. To create the casing for your ribbon, fold down the fabric between the two diagonal sides. You need to make this fold big enough for the ribbon you chose to slide through it. So if your ribbon is half an inch wide, the fold should be slightly bigger than half an inch. Use your iron to press this fold and hold it in place.
14. Stitch across the bottom of the casing.
15. Fold the edges on the bottom and two sides of the fabric about ¼ of an inch, pressing with an iron to hold them in place. Use your sewing machine to sew along these three sides.
16. Slide the 24 inch fabric ribbon into the casing. To make this a little easier, place a safety pin on one end of the ribbon, then push the safety pin through the “tunnel.”
17. Use your fabric pen to make a mark where you think the apron’s waist will be. You can do this by putting the apron on and tying it around your neck.
18. Lay the fabric out again, right side up this time.
19. Lay the 40 inch fabric ribbon across what will be the waist of your apron. Use straight pins to hold it in place.
20. Sew a stitch along the top and the bottom of the ribbon. You also want to sew a stitch on ribbon along the right and left edges of the apron.

This simple apron is easy to make. In fact, once you get the hang of it, you should be able to make an apron in an hour or less. Before you know it, you’ll have an apron for every day of the week.