Vintage apron step 1 - Day 320

I have this roommate from college, who I have talked about before, who designs fabric. I have been a procrastinator in making projects that use her fabric. NO more! I found an etsy store that still had her Lizzy dish collection that was inspired by the kitchen, so what better project than an apron! I made two, one fancy one and a more simple version so choose the path you like. The fancy one will be in red text, the easier in orange.Black text will be for both of them.

These are the three fabrics I chose. Aren't they fun and retro?!

I always start out by figuring out the ratio of what fabric goes where and how much it I will use. These are just pinned on my Barbie (dress form). 

I measured the length I wanted the top to be. I cut a perfect square the length and width of my torso.  You just hold the fabric on your chest and use your fingers to mark where you want to cut. This is not an exact science since it is an apron! 

ok, so lkittle tip, I find it much easier to fold my hems and iron them so it makes it way easier to sew. So you fold the hem over 1/4 in and iron.

I wanted the top to be bigger at the top and gets narrow at the waist. So to do this you take the sides, at the bottom and fold it in about an inch. Place a finger on the bottom and let the seam from the bottom to the top fall where it does naturally. Iron.

 This is what it should look like when you are done with the second ironing. Sew all the way around.

 Top seam.

This is what it looks like when you are done with the sewing. 

here is the bottom seam lined up with the top so you can see the width difference. 

 The next part is the waist. I cut a strip 5 in by the width of the fabric, I think it was 44 in.

 Fold the seams over once and iron.

 On each end of the strip you will fold it exactly to the center of the strip. You will lay one side over the other like a burrito. You also don't want the middle to overlap, you want it to stay as wide as possible.

Finished product after ironing. 

 Cut 4 inches by the width of the fabric (44in) twice.

Sew the strips together at the shortest end. 

Sew the length of the strip and turn right side out.

Sew the ends shut.  You are done with your waist piece.

 You need to take your two long strips and sew them up the length so you will end up wit two separate strips. 

 Connect with the waist piece. The order from left to right is skinny strip, waist piece, skinny piece.

Sew the waistband to the top.

 This is what it should look like. You wrap the straps around the back an tie in front in a bow.

The other one looks similar, the waist band is thinner. 

Next you will cut a piece of the third fabric 19 in x 4 in.

Sew  lengthwise and turn right side out. Sew ends shut. Run a stitch down the center and ruffle it.

Sew onto apron and add ric-rac in the center. 

Simple version is to just use ric-rac and sew it across the top!

I did not like the length of the waist band after it is in the bow, so I cut it shorter. I was able to use the leftover for this part. I cut one 3 in part, folded it over added two d rings and sewed to the apron on the back side.

Front view.

The other side I attached the long piece to the apron and sewed it. This will be the one you feed through the d rings.

Front view.

This is what your top looks like when you are done!!!

I hate D rings so I just measured and sewed both ends to the top of the apron. The reason why I chose D rings for the other one, is I don't have her measurements to make her neck band!

Part two comes tomorrow!