Sew your own apron

My friend gave me a pair of "skinny" jeans with a hole in the butt. My friend is 6 ft tall and mostly legs, so I had length, but not a lot of width to work with. They were "city" jeans, so lighter weight than "farm" jeans, but sturdy enough for this project.

I've wanted a "farm" apron for a while. An early heat wave got me moving, as I needed more pockets and bigger pockets to make my life easier.

So I ignored the normal jeans conversion advice of cutting out the inside leg seams, and unpicked the outside leg seams as far as the front pockets. These pockets had rivets I wanted to keep, so I cut wider at that point to use part of the back panel of the pants as a "seam allowance".

I also wanted to keep the front of the waistband intact because it would give the apron structure, give me belt loops for hooking things to, and I wanted the button hole for the surprise at the end...

I'm getting the hang of "flattening the crotch". I think it turned out really well as you can see in the next two pictures:




I wanted a couple of large pockets. I cut around the back pockets with an inch and a half margin, and using the yolk seam as the top edge. However, I sewed the margin with a seam allowance turned under, only slightly larger than the sides of the original pocket, putting a pleat at each bottom edge. I've done this before on a project and was very pleased with the functional result. The oversized pocket can fit a medium-sized jar full of  chicken scraps. The original pockets are still functional and great for putting an egg in when I find one that missed morning pickup.

A big part of upcycle sewing is accepting when you didn't get it right. The next picture is of the bib, which to preserve the waistband, had to be hand-stitched on:

More on that later...

I also had watched videos of a "harvest apron". The concept is that there's a drawstring in the bottom seam which when pulled, turns the hole apron into a giant pocket. I don't know how often I've felt the need for that concept. However, with using jeans fabric, and lots of past experience with gathering things with a draw string, I knew that the casing needed to be twice as wide as I thought it needed to be! The finished casing is 2" wide and the drawstring pulls and "un-pulls" really easily. The wide casing also gives the lower apron as finished a look as possible when the goal was a functional piece of gear.

So this next picture shows the edging and the bib attached. However, it didn't survive contact with field work.


I wore it for a few tasks, but the waist just wasn't where I wanted it to be. I unpicked the hand stitching holding the bib to the waist, cut off 2 1/2 inches, then stitched it back on. Then back to testing. Alas, the top of the bib also seemed just a bit too wide. I unpicked the original pant seam 4 1/2 inches and put a dart there. That way I maintained the width at the bust, but the straps sit better on my shoulders.

Speaking of straps, I used a strip of the jeans 4 1/2" wide, folded, stitched and turned it right side out for a final 2" wide strap so that the weight is well distributed. I used the "cross the back" style which Tereza Okava posted pictures of. No tying was one of my goals!

The next two pictures show the finished apron in regular mode, and harvest apron mode. I was a bit surprised that I managed to make the harvest apron idea work, but I think it will be useful in the garden.



It doesn't look pretty in harvest mode with the front pocket lining showing, but if it means I can grab an apron full of greens for the ducks and chickens and have my apron carry it, that's a big win.

As for the "almost finished" part, I've had several people ask about a pocket on the bib. First off, I wanted to make sure I was happy with the fit and usefulness before putting more work into it. That's been covered in the last week, particularly when I ended up eating dinner with a tired out gosling in one pocket. However, it does look rather blue. I have a scrap of cheery red cotton, and I'm even thinking of taking a little time to embroider some flowers on it. That will take time, which with how busy the last week has been, is going to have to be taken in small bights.

So far I'm finding my upcycled apron really useful. I had almost no material left over, wasted just a little with the adjustments needed for a comfortable fit, and it can free up my hands by holding a wide variety of things securely.  Including a worn out gosling that needed a little help his first 24 hours, but is now back with his hatchmate and foster mom running around on the grass.

I tried smocking for my apron.



The body is three rectangles, with a band across the top and some shoulder straps.  I could probably have just kept the body of the apron as one piece, but I think the structure of the seams helps the apron hold a bit more shape.

I was looking at Viking apron dress tutorials and this popped up in the suggestions.

Here are a couple for apron dresses. I reckon the "dress" part is because they have a front and back (could be handy), but they're obviously meant to be worn over other clothes, so they're aprons. One is made from scratch, the other is an upcycled shirt.

These remind me of the kirtles or bliaut that were sometimes tied in back or at the sides, during the middle ages. I like!

Carla Burke wrote:These remind me of the kirtles or bliaut that were sometimes tied in back or at the sides, during the middle ages. I like!

That's how I found them! Researching Viking apron dresses, which seem so comfortable and practical for our own permies lifestyles.



I like the dress she's wearing under it too. Seems so classic in style; anybody could wear it.

Leigh Tate wrote:I like the dress she's wearing under it too. Seems so classic in style; anybody could wear it.

Just from the picture, I would point out that this dress, like many others in cultures where the women cooked over fires, the sleeves are 3/4 length and reasonably snug around the bottom, which is a *really* safe design for cooking, compared to what our local fire marshal refers to as "chimney fire hazard sleeves" that many house-robes have and are not safe for cooking in!  The open wide sleeve ends aren't just more likely to get hot enough to catch fire, the shape acts like a chimney to spread the fire up the robe.