Gardening Apron Tutorial
I needed a good gardening apron for Mother's Day this year, and I wanted something with deep, open pockets to hold all sorts of things you need on hand while gardening. So I came up with my own design, here is the tutorial.
Materials Needed:
-1.25 yards of 54" wide fabric (pick a fabric that is nice and sturdy, with some body to it)
-Extra Large Eyelets (7/16") and Extra Large Eyelet Tool
-Twill ribbon (5/8"x 9ft)
1. Keeping your fabric doubled, cut a rectangle that is 18"x (the width of the fabric). After you cut the selvages off the sides, and cut down the folded line, you should end up with 2 pieces that measure about 18"x 26".
2. With right sides together, sew around the edge of the rectangles using a 3/8" seam allowance. Leave about a 6" gap on the bottom edge so you can turn it. Clip the corners.
3. Turn so the right sides are facing out. Push out the corners, and press. Press the seam allowance of the opening to the inside. Pin, and topstitch along the edge to close the opening.
4. To create the pocket panel, cut 2 pieces of fabric that measure 12.5"x 38.5". Repeat steps 2 & 3 with the panel piece.
5. Once the pocket panel is finished, lay it on top of the main piece. Take the width of the main piece, and divide it by 3 so you will know where your pockets will be divided. In my case, it was 8.5". Mark the main piece with pins. Now take the finished pocket panel and divide it by 3. Mark it with pins. Match up the pins from the pocket panel to the pins on the main piece.
6. Now you are going to create a 2" pleat in the middle of each pocket section, making sure the sides of the pocket panel match up with the sides of the main piece. This part took a little bit a tweaking, but the pleats pretty much fell pretty naturally into place.
7. Baste stitch over the bottom of the pleats so they will stay in place when you sew the pocket panel to the main piece. After basting, lay the pocket panel on top of the main piece and pin really well. Topstitch down from the top of the pocket, across the bottom, and up to the top of the pocket on the other side. I used a dense zig-zag stitch, so it will stay together really well.
8. Now mark the panel with chalk or a removable marker along the 8.5" marks so you will know where to sew to create the pockets. Sew along the lines.
9. Almost there! You just need to add the eyelets and the ribbon.
10.Mark the holes where you will want the grommets in the upper left and right hand corners. Cut out the circle you just marked.
11. Following the instructions on the package, hammer in your grommets. Take the ribbon and cut it in half down the middle. I used really long ribbons on each side so you could wrap it around the back, then tie it in the front. Tie one of the ribbons through the hole in the grommet. Repeat on the other side.
12. All Done! Wrap it up and give it to the garden lover in your life!
