I Made A Useless Apron

Back in February, I had made a little half apron and was pretty proud of the results. After that success, I was feeling pretty confident and said that my next venture would be this Tea-And-Crumpets Apron from Anthropologie.

I can't tell you how many times I've walked into that store and felt my heart drop every time I would turn over that little price tag that might as well say, "Keep dreaming!" This apron, priced at $32, has been on my mind since I first saw it, and it became one of the main reasons why I wanted a sewing machine of my own.

Well, I finally got the courage to make it on my own and here is the final product! I have had the fabric for over a month now, but I didn't want to begin because I thought I would fail miserably and then give up sewing altogether. Eight hours over three days, a lot of swearing, and pin pricks later...

I made the entire thing with trusty Ken from all 100% cotton fabrics. The only pre-made thing was the strip of ruffles at the very bottom of the apron because I didn't feel like doing it. I did make the ruffles attached to the top half of the apron though! I tossed the receipt, but I think the total cost of the project was under $8.

I am an extremely messy cook and dishwasher so I doubt this apron will see too much action in the kitchen unless we have guests. I definitely will not be wiping my dirty hands on it like I usually do with my poor aprons. 

This tutorial on how to make ruffles helped me a great deal. 

Although I did not take pictures of the process and therefore do not have a tutorial, here are the measurements of the pieces in case you want to make your own (click to enlarge). I constructed the apron through a lot of trial-and-error and this tutorial by someone who made the same apron helped a lot, too. That blogger even provides a downloadable pattern, but I don't currently have a working printer so I had to wing it.

I used the apron I already owned for a guideline on the necessary measurements and also zoomed in on the picture of the apron on the website to see the construction. If I decide to make another one for a friend I'll post a tutorial.

I don't own a tripod so I had to use my kitchen island and my camera's self-timer to get some decent pictures. This is attempt # 47.

And although this picture is really blurry, Bella looks adorable and is probably thinking, "Mama, why are you so vain?" There are a lot of headless shots because I'm sick and my face and hair are definitely not camera-ready these days.

Some friends said that I should try selling them, but I don't feel comfortable with that idea for several reasons. First of all, this apron is a complete knockoff of the Anthropologie one and there must be some kind of legal issues with that. Second, I would probably have to charge more than $32 simply because it's such a tedious project. And finally, I have no idea how well the apron will hold up after a wash.

But don't be surprised if you receive an apron or tote bag for your birthday or Christmas!

I'm tempted to make a dress now, since an apron is basically the front of a dress, right? Maybe I should stick with the basics first before I go crazy.

Next projects now that I have a zipper foot attachment for Ken:

Source: prudentbaby.com via  Pinterest

Source: howaboutorange.blogspot.com via Pinterest