CrafTay!: One must be well equipped before...

I promised myself I would try cooking a little more. However, this led me to believe that one cannot cook without the proper attire. So I got stitchy and made myself an apron!

My inspiration:

This apron specifically; however, I find that I love most aprons from Anthropologie.

Cake! (As well as the prospect of making other foods.) This cake was made by ele Cake Company. I think it is adorable.Get Ready, this is a long one!I started with upholstery fabrics. They are thicker, and make a good apron, although cotton works fine too, you just might want to line the apron.

Tip from Lottie: Save old shopping bags to make patterns from. Tip two: Don't bother buying a pattern for an apron. Periodically try on the apron pattern to make sure it is the right length and size.

Lottie Tip 3: Good scissors are your best friend. Take good care of them and only cut fabric with your good scissors. These are my Gingher scissors that were given to me as a gift from Lottie. Seriously, no Fiskars could hold a candle to these. Side note: Lottie is my mother who is seamstress extraordinaire. Any sewing skillz I have come from her. She will make many appearances in my sewing posts.

Make strips to make your sash from. This particular sash has an inset panel. I was getting crazy, but in reality, this did not take me all that long.

Sew the entire sash together except in the middle, this is a good place to leave open to turn it right side out since you will be stitching it down shortly.

Any top-stitching that was done, I used my specialty stitches to make it nicer. It is always good to do a test, as specialty stitches are extra hard to get out.

Do not underestimate the power of the Iron on this project. It is excessively important. You will need to iron these sashes multiple times throughout.

Rule to live by: Ruffles make you fancy. This apron is just screaming to be fancy. So cut more strips to make ruffles from. I did not make them the "Fancy Way" on the machine. I did them by hand because the upholstery fabric was rather hard to gather that way.

Pin the ruffles. Adjust so they are as even as possible. Then stitch down to the main part of the apron.

Add pocket. Again, shopping bags make great patterns! If you are lining the apron, make sure you add the pocket before you add the back lining. I was fortunate enough to be able to match the print on this one with the pocket. One great thing about an apron is that you can get creative with multiple patterns and shapes. It is also great for someone without a whole lot of sewing experience.

You should be ironing this after each step.

I like bows. I like bows almost as much as I like ruffles.

Add Sash. Make sure it is centered with the front of your apron. Once complete, iron again and finish off inner edges with either a surger or edging of some type.

Voila! The finished apron. Again, my sewing skillz are not superior right now, but from start to finish, with a few bumps along the way, this took me three hours max. I think it turned out better than one I could have bought!