Easy "A"pron

     The most difficult piece of your pioneer costume to sew is the bonnet.  I would have to say the second most difficult to sew is the apron.

This is a tutu for an apron with a pocket made using material from a bed sheet.

     Essentially there are 4 parts to making this apron: Measuring, Cutting, Ironing, Sewing. This is how I will break it down.

Materials list:

1. Twin bed sheet 
2. scissors
3. pins
4. iron
5. ironing board
6. sewing machine

 Measuring

      I am using a twin bed sheet which measures roughly 66" x 96". You will need to cut out 3 pieces. The apron, the pocket, and the waistband.  Tip: use the already hemmed edges of your sheet for the apron and the pocket, this means less sewing. You're pieces will look something like this...

 

     The length of waist band is dependent on the roundness of the person wearing the apron, but I just used double the width of the apron itself. (It's okay if the apron seems really wide. we will be gathering it up when we sew the waist band on) Also, the length of the apron is dependent on height  of the person wearing the apron, for me, it happened to be 28" from my hips to mid-calf.

I went all scientifical and held the sheet up to my self to measure how far down it would go.

Cutting

Once you've measured it the way you want, get to cuttin'!

I used a plain piece of computer paper, folded on the diagonal, with the excess cut off, to create a perfect 8 1/2" square.

Va-La! Here are my pieces!

Ironing

Get your iron hot we need to do some pressing! We are going to be doing a lot of hemming, which are just easy, straight stitches. 

Ironing the pocket

Fold 3 sides in about an inch and press. The top part of the pocket should already be hemmed, if you took my above advice. If not hem it, then press the edges in. 

close up of the pocket corner

Ironing the waist band

Iron both ends down, about an inch.

Then iron the long edge in, about an inch

Then fold the whole thing in half, hot dog style, and iron. Making sure the top and bottom edges line up perfectly. 

 Note: There is one edge (see my above diagram) of the apron that does not have a hem on it, but is a rough, cut edge. While you are doing all the ironing, you could iron this hem too. But I didn't, I just folded it over twice and sewed it up real fast.

Sewing

Finally!

 

Remember that unhemmed edge on the side of your apron? Hem that now.

Pin the pocket where you want it on the front of the apron.  Yes, you can hardly see, but there ARE pins on pocket.

Sew down the two sides and bottom, leaving the top open. Duh.

Here's your finished pocket!

Now for a gathered stitch.

Gather the top of the apron, the end that's going to be connected to your waist band.

Try to find the center point of your waist band. Slide the top of the arpon, the part you just gather inside the middle of the two folded halves of the waist band.

Once you have done the above step and gotten in situated the way you want, pin, pin, pin.

Sew from one end of the waist band to the other.

This is what it looks like when you go over the apron part.

...and yer done!

This is what it looks like!  Never mind the shades, the pocket blends in so perfectly with the material that I thought you might like a reference point. 

    Hopefully, this helps you!