With my homemade laundry soap and new clothes line in the back yard, my new obsession didn’t end. Since you need laundry pins to secure your laundry to the line, I decided that I needed a pin bag and, to do laundry in style, I needed a new laundry apron.
This was a really simple project. I chose a red and white checkered fabric because it screamed vintage and picnic. Then I cut out a rectangle and folded short sides together. On the short sides, I created a channel to thread a drawstring through and then sewed up the sides. Voila, super simple bag. I just filled it with all of the laundry pins I ordered and cinched it shut.
Then, I turned to my apron. For this, I decided that I would add patch pockets and a bow to it. For fabric, I chose a navy and cream floral and a light, bright blue fabric that I had bought to make a classroom curtain.
I took the fabric, that I had hemmed up for a curtain and cut it to a shorter length. Then, I gathered it down to fit my waist. I did this by using an extra wide, running, straight stitch on my machine. I ran two lines of this stitching down my fabric and then pulled the fabric along the stitching to create gathering.
Then I pinned a waist band in place to keep the gathers from unraveling. For this waistband I cut it down by 15 inches, unlike the last apron I made. This waist band is normal length, I won’t be repelling with it. 🙂
Once the waist band was pinned in place, I used a straight stitch, at a 2 length, and went all the way around the perimeter of the waist band.
Once, I had the apron created I went on to create the patch pockets. I cut out two rectangles and hemmed them all the way around. I decided to create a wider hem for the open part of the pocket. I chose to cut the pockets out so that I cut at the salvage. Doing this helped me create a secured longer hem for the opening. I attached the pockets by straight stitching, around the three sides, just inside the hem. If you are going to do patch pockets on a garment that is gathered, I would recommend attaching the pockets before you gather the garment. I had some issues with getting the pockets even. I’m not convinced I managed to get them even, but they are close enough.
From there I worked on creating the bow. These are really easy to make.. you cut out a rectangle, sew the long sides with right sides together and the turn right side out. Once you do that, you fold the center of the rectangle a few times and secure with a ribbon. I will create a blog post about this going into more detail.
And finally I had my complete apron!
The Time Warp Wife 