Sewing An Apron For Mother's Day

I decided not to wait until the last minute to sew a Mother's Day gift for Mike's mom. It feels great to cross one project off my list for this week. I gave Mike's mom an apron last year and I decided to give her another one this year. I am satisfied with the pattern I draft, but will give it another go when I make one for myself. I found a cute cupcake remmant a while back at Hancock Fabrics and I had aprons in mind when I saw it. The best part is that I have enough left to make myself one with this fabric too. What do you think?

Materials:

• (1) 3/4 - 1' of outer fabric
• (1) 3/4 - 1' of lining fabric
• (1) 66x6" strip of lining fabric - waist tie (piece together several pieces, if necessary)
• (2) 22x3" strips of lining fabric - neck ties
• (1) 12x12" of lining fabric - pocket (optional)

Instructions:

I fit XS-S sizes and included my measurements for each section of the apron below. The only modification I would make next time is to cut about 2" from each side of the chest section. I rounded all corners, but the waist corners do not need to be rounded (I had intended to add the waist tie differently).

Top - 13"

Waist - 16"

Bottom - 20"

Top to waist - 10.5"

Waist to bottom - 21"

(1/2'" seam allowance)

When the two body pieces were cut, I started preparing the accent pieces. I ironed after each step.

• Iron the waist strip in half long ways wrong sides together.
• Open up with the right side facing down.
• Fold the corners towards the middle crease line, making sure to come to a clean point.

• Fold the both top and bottom edges towards the middle.

• Fold the whole piece in half again and top stitch all around.

• Do the same thing for the neck ties, but skip the pointed corners.
• Fold in half to get your crease line.
• Fold top and bottom edges towards the crease line.
• Fold a little bit of one end in before folding the whole strip in half again. (You can leave the other end unfolded because it will be hidden between the two body pieces)

Optional pocket:

[You can create the pocket pieces like the ties straps (fold sides to the middle and then in half) If your fabric is thick enough, you can just hem the sides. I did it the following way to get the desired thickness for the fabric I was using.]

• Fold the pocket piece in half right sides together.
• Sew the three unfolded sides together and leave a 3" gap.
• Turn the pocket right side out and edge stitch the folded side. This will be the top of the pocket.

• Iron the other three sides in about 1/2".

• Sew the two body pieces right sides together, but leave the top of the apron open.
• Cut notches into the corner seam allowances and turn right side out.
• Pin the neck ties in place (in between the front and back body pieces at the opening) and top stitch the whole apron.
• Pin the waist tie amd pocket in place and sew onto the apron.

 Good luck to all your Mother's Day projects!

Grocery Bag Dispenser

I've got another tutorial!  Yay!  I must say that doing tutorials are little more involved than I thought they'd be.  :)  I also wish that I had better pictures to share.  For now, it's just my iPhone, bad lighting, and Photoshop.

I have had a kitchen drawer overflowing with grocery bags and finally decided it was time to do something about it.  I made this grocery bag dispenser and hung it over the trash can in my kitchen.  Now, I have a much needed free drawer!  This was super easy to make.  It probably took me longer to figure out the right dimensions for the fabric and elastic pieces and how I wanted to construct it than it was to actually sew it together.  I am already thinking of making more to give to my friends as small Christmas gifts.  However, I don't think I will get around to this soon enough.  I am too eager to try a bunch of new projects instead.  :D  I didn't think to count how many bags I stuffed in there, but I am guessing there are 25-30 bags with room for a few more.  You stuff from the top and pull from the bottom (if you look closely you can see a bag poking through).

Materials:

• 19x15" cotton fabric
• 2x8" cotton fabric
• 4" elastic (3/8")
• 8" elastic (3/8") *Instead of doing an elastic opening at the top you could go with a drawstring.  Cut a 2x15" strip of fabric and follow the same steps used to make the hanging loop.
• 1 safety pin

Costs:

• fabric ~ $1.50/yd, Joann
• elastic ~ $1.50/6yd, Walmart

Instructions:

Place the large piece of fabric right side down.  Fold in 3/4" on both sides and sew with enough space for the elastic to go through.

Attach a safety pin to one end one of the elastic pieces.  Leading with the pinned end, work the elastic through one of the casings you just sewed.  Stop as soon as the unpinned end disappears into the casing.  Sew this end of the casing and elastic together with zigzag stitches.  Continue working the rest of the elastic through the casing.  Remove the safety pin and sewing this end shut.  Repeat with the other elastic.  Distribute the gathering evenly.

Sew the long ends of the fabric together right side in.

Fold the remaining piece of fabric in half (long sides together) and crease.  With the right side down, fold the top and bottom towards the crease, and then fold in half.  Sew all around and keep as close to the edges as possible.

Flip the bag right side out.  Place one end of the strip over the inside vertical seams of the bag and sew over the casing stitches.  Sew the other end of the strap the same way next to it.  Be sure to expose the same side of the strap on both ends and not twisting it.  It hangs better this way.

Stick a nail in the wall, stuff, and hang!