Apron

This is my exciting debut into a new medium: sewing! I borrowed this cute little sewing machine from a friend for a project that I haven't yet undertaken (you'll get to see it when I finally do) but didn't end up using it until this project. My brother just graduated from college and I wanted to get him something special, but I couldn't think of something good that he would actually use. The idea I eventually came to was that I wanted to pass on my bread-making tradition on to him now that he was going into the wide world and would need to make his own bread. So I decided to get him a pair of bread pans (the fancy silicone ones that I use), make him a recipe book of my bread recipes, and to make him an apron (that's where the sewing comes in). I should add that the day I chose to make the apron, I had a friend visiting who is costume designer and has a fair bit of experience with a sewing machine, so I had good help on my maiden voyage into the land of sewing.

We decided to fold the cloth over to make the apron double layered. This ended up being easier and looking much nicer. Then I cut out the rough shape of the apron (note this is the back face of the fabric so that I can turn it inside out when I'm done).

I sewed around the edge and inserted the straps at the appropriate places (sticking inward of course) and double stitching over them for security. The last thing I had to do was to put on a front pocket. I decided to make this out of terrycloth so that there's a built in towel to wipe off the hands. A few layers of this turned out to be all that the little machine could handle but it eventually made it. After I finished sewing the pocket onto the front of the apron, I proceeded to seal up the side.

And there's the finished product. I chose to put side release buckles on the waist strap rather than leave it as a tie so that it was a little quicker to get on and off. Unfortunately I don't yet own an iron, so the seams were a little puffy, but other than that I felt pretty good about my first sewing project.