Saturday, February 26, 2011

Apron Made From a Bed Skirt - Tutorial



I have wanted to make this apron for a while now. It has taken the Ucreate "create with me" challenge for February to motivate this project into action. Thank you Ucreate!

A friend told me about an awesome deal at a local discount store. They had eyelet bed skirts on for $5.00. At the time, we were making pioneer clothes for a pioneer trek, so I thought I would check out this good deal. When I got to the cashier, the bed skirt ran up at 50 cents. I had to go buy the rest of them. I have been thinking of projects to make with my eight bed skirts and one of those projects was going to be an apron. I have another outdated bed skirt that would also make a good apron too. Maybe another day.

I went to the blog that had the apron tutorial that was issued in the February UCreate challenge to get the inspiration on how to make an apron. Check out that tutorial BY CLICKING HERE!

Keeping that tutorial in mind, I set off to do my own apron made from a bed skirt. Here is how I did it:

The measurements are for a medium sized apron (size 5/6). Adjust measurements accordingly.


Make the bottom half of the apron:
1. Measure and cut a 20" wide piece from the bed skirt ruffle. Cut at the top of ruffle, just above the gathered seam. Cut a second 20" wide piece from the bed skirt, cutting 6 inches above the gathered seam.
2. Iron ruffle. Press in sides to finish seams. Top stitch.

3. Place short ruffle on top of the ruffle with 6" top. Pin 4 inches above the other ruffle. Sew.
You could stop here for short apron. Add a ribbon for a tie.


Make the top:
1. Cut out a piece of the bed skirt ruffle for the top. I cut just underneath the gathered seam and ironed it flat. I fancied up the top with lace. I finished all the edges. The finished measurement of the top of my apron was:
BODICE LENGTH - 10 inches
WIDTH AT TOP -  11"
WIDTH AT BOTTOM - 15"
Adjust the measurements to fit you. I kept holding up the pieces to me to make sure they would fit. I started bigger than these measurements and adjusted accordingly.


Join the top to the bottom.
1) On the front of the bottom ruffle, I folded the unfinished fabric a 1/2 inch and pressed it. I turned the top and bottom around (back facing you) and pinned the top on to the bottom  making sure the top was centered as it is a little more narrow than the bottom piece. Sew.
2) Flip the apron over to the front. Sew on your tie. I purchased ribbon for my tie. You need to make sure the ribbon is wide enough to cover the middle of the apron as there will be unfinished seams you will need to hide with the tie. The ribbon for the tie for my apron was 1 inch ribbon. This is the minimum you can use. A little wider would give you a little wriggle room. I used 72 inches of ribbon and finished the ends by folding them over and sewing the ends secure.

Finish up:
1) I cut two 20 inch pieces from my ribbon. I finished an end on each one.
2) I hand sewed the unfinished ends to each side of the top.



From a bed skirt to a pretty apron... why don't you give it a try?

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6 comments:

  1. It's very beautiful!
    You have a talent :)

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  2. I Love this! It is adorable! Very creative!

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  3. This is so beautiful!

    I am so glad I found your blog through UCreate! The quote on your header was a blessing to me!

    I look forward to being a reader!

    -Many Smiles!

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  4. Those eyelet ruffles are amazing! Good job.

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  5. This is great! I have a few thrifted bed skirts that I've collected, and one of them is white eyelet! :) I was planning to make my daughter a few skirts, but that won't use it all, so I'm going to give this a try. Thanks for sharing!!

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