Sewing Aprons with Ribbon Straps ...

... and links to Free Apron Patterns

Having sewn very little over the summer holidays, I decided on some easy sewing to get me motivated again. As a gift for a couple who got engaged, I thought aprons might be appreciated. There are lots of apron sewing patterns available, so I chose two, the Emmaline Apron from Sew Liberated and a free apron pattern from a collection on the Internet.

 

 

The Emmaline Apron was the more difficult to sew of the two aprons, mostly because I changed the pattern to include ribbons instead of making straps. This might not have been the best choice for a reversible apron, as I had to use a double layer of ribbon, but I think it worked.

 

The skirt portion of the apron involves sewing the 2 layers of fabric wrong sides together, then turning the right sides out.

On the other hand, the two fabric layers of the top or bodice portion are gathered and sewn with the right sides facing out. The ribbon is then sewn around all the raw edges on both sides for a neat finish. I chose a few different spotty ribbons from janemeans to complement the colours of the stripes and flowers.

 

 

I love that it's reversible, and the floral Alexander Henry print is a perfect foil to the stripes on the other side. Having sewn a shark shirt for my husband for last Father's Day, I'm a very recent convert to these great fabric prints.

 

The Emmaline apron pattern is one of the most unusual apron designs I have seen. As utility items, aprons can generally be shapeless and are simply created to cover garments. This apron has an empire waistline, so the straps tie a little higher than the waist. The darts in the skirt combined with the gathers in the bodice create a very 'shapely' apron (as seen in the pattern pictures), that begs to be worn for eating as well as cooking!

 

 

 

The second apron is from an excellent collection of free apron patterns on the Internet. The specific pattern I adapted came from a vintage pattern e-book (page 6). Men, those that I know at least, tend to not use aprons much, so choosing camouflage fabric was my way of hoping it would be worn!

My efforts at taking pictures of it were comical. I chose the garden so I would have space to open out the aprons, totally forgetting about the camoflage fabric!

 

 

 

This apron was surprisingly easy to sew considering I thought there would be difficulties with the seams on the curved sides due to stretching. Folding in the raw edges twice, 0.5cm and then 1cm and pressing them made the sewing very quick. I also used ribbons on this apron, but chose striped janemeans ribbons. The ribbons were pushed under the last 1cm fold, then brought around to the front and sewn. All the corners are mitred for a neater finish.

 

 

 

The ribbon for the neck straps is strengthened by sewing two ribbons together. To make the neck straps adjustable, I added a loop with D-rings which will hopefully allow for a better fit.

 

 

 

And a final picture showing how effective the camouflage fabric actually is!

 

It might a very interesting experience to wear this camoflage apron for the garden barbecue!

 

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