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How to make a simple apron

A Tea Towel Apron is one of the quickest and simplest aprons to make!

Grab a tea towel and a half yard (or at least 16")  X 45" wide matching fabric and you are ready to make a great gift!

I wanted to make cute holiday aprons and found these tea towels from the Martha Stewart collection at Macy's.

tea towel apron 1

Making the waistband/sash

Cut the half yard or 16" of fabric in half lengthwise, so you have two long pieces at least 8" wide.

tea towel apron 2

Using about 1/4" to 1/2" seam, sew right sides together at one end.

tea towel apron 3

Press entire length of fabric in half lengthwise, wrong sides together.

tea towel apron 4

Open fabric up and press each edge to the middle. Yes, it is a long piece of fabric but the pressing  is the hardest part and this makes such a nice looking waistband!

tea towel apron 5

Fold in half and press again.

tea towel apron 6

To finish each end, fold the fabric in half the other way and stitch 1/4" from the edge. Repeat on other end.

tea towel apron 7

Turn right side out, make sure corners are pointed and press.

tea towel apron 8

Attaching the apron to the waistband/sash

Cut tea towel in half, or if you want it a bit longer, adjust accordingly.  Place left edge of towel even with the seam and insert the  cut edge of tea towel inside the long strip of waistband fabric (make sure the tea towel goes clear up to the fold). Pin.

tea towel apron 9

Start at the end of the sash and edge stitch all the way around, stitching the open side (making sure edges meet)  first, then around to the top edge until you are back to where you started.

tea towel apron 11

Finished!

The apron ties on the side with a bow.  The ties are long enough that the apron will fit most everyone!

tea towel apron 10

Wrapping

There is half (or a little less if you made apron longer) of an apron.  This fabric could easily be used to make pockets, ruffles (or something I will show you later in the week) but this time I made matching fabric gift bags for the aprons!

tea towel apron 12

Are you making something crafty for the holidays? Skip on over to Today's Creative Blog and link up your project. You will love all the creative ideas you will find.

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Enter by simply linking up your crafty post!

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19 Responses to “How to make a simple apron”

  1. Amanda says:

    Oh I love the fabrics you chose! So pretty!

  2. Sarah says:

    Thanks for the quick and easy (to follow and do) tutorial! These are great gifts for those women on the list that have everything or are just hard to buy for. Love the matching fabric gift bags!

  3. Rene says:

    I absolutely LOVE this! Definitely doing it!

  4. Janessa says:

    This is such a great idea and they turned out ADORABLE!! I will have to add this to my to do list!

  5. [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Katherine, Skip to my Lou. Skip to my Lou said: How to make a simple apron (really simple) [ http://www.skiptomylou.org/2009/12/15/how-to-make-a-simple-apron/ ] [...]

  6. LuckyLadybug711 says:

    So easy!!! thank you for sharing!!

  7. Kate says:

    Very pretty! In 2010 I hope to get a sewing machine and start learning to sew, and I will tuck this away to work on for one of my first projects. Thanks!

  8. Valerie says:

    I hope you don’t mind, I shared this on my blog, and linked back to you. I have been eyeballing the tea towels at ourlocal dollar store for a few days now. I was thinking matching apron & crocheted top towels. Thanks for the how to!!!!

  9. susan says:

    Wow, a lot of bang for such a simple project. Thanks for sharing that.

  10. Carrie says:

    Very cute and I love the tea towels you found! A couple weeks ago I searched high and low for good tea towels in my area and finally gave up =(

  11. cindi says:

    Thanks for the great tutorial and wonderful idea for a quick gift. I may have to try and whip some of these out before Christmas!

  12. {leah} says:

    This is something I could actaully do!!!! I like it!

  13. Katie W says:

    These aprons make it official. You are the coolest!

  14. gini says:

    I also shared this on my blog! Thanks for all the tutorials and fun stuff! Merry Christmas!

  15. Catherine says:

    You mentioned you found your towels at Macy’s – I have been looking and looking and can’t find any towels that seem “worthy” – at Walmart the other day I checked their Christmas clearance and the only Christmas towels I could find had a strange feel to them and looked as if the design would “flake” off with one washing – ugh!

    BTW, what makes a kitchen towel a “tea” towel? For those of us (someone, please say I’m not alone in not knowing this) who don’t know….? :)

  16. Catherine says:

    Fantastic – now, did you wsh the towels and fabric before you started sewing?

    If not, how did they look after the first washing of the apron?

  17. Catherine says:

    One last question :) Which way did the cut the towels? Along the length? or across the width? I’m sure this should seem obvious, but….I’m asking.

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