On My Own.... The Apron

I told you I would. We've only been hanging out a week or so-I couldn't lie to you already, could I?

I made the apron.  All on my own.  I figured before I went to my zipper pouch class this week I should make the apron from last week's class so my brain wouldn't be holding too much new info at once!

Let's see how I did it.

Materials:
1/2 yard of fabric
1/2 yard of coordinating fabric
1 yard of pretty ribbon

First, cut the fabrics in half ("hamburger style" for my teacher friends).  Cut the ribbon in half.

Put right sides in and pin all the way around.  Leave a 4" gap in the middle of one of the longer sides.

Now, we've got to pin the ribbon in between your two fabrics. At the top of right side, pin the end of the ribbon about 1/2" from the top. (see the top picture).  Do the same on the left side with the other ribbon. 

Bring the ends of the ribbon through the inside of the fabric and pull them through the gap at the bottom that you left.

Sew around all 4 sides; you'll sew through the ribbon edges too.  Remember to leave open the gap you left at the bottom that has the ribbon hanging out of it.  Don't sew any part of the ribbon except the edges where you pinned on the sides or...

When you turn it inside-out, your corners won't look right. (yup, had to get the seam ripper out again...)

Now, let's mind the gap (if you've ever been on the subway in Europe, you've heard that before).  Sew a pretty line down the edge of your fabric with the hole to close it up.  I think they call that "topstitching", but I'm not sure yet.

On to our pockets.  Fold up your fabric to the desired depth of the pockets you want.  At first I thought my birds were going to be upside down, but they turned out okay.

Sew along the sides and bottom of your apron to make one big pocket.

Now, figure out how many little pockets you want and how wide you want them (you can mark them with chalk if you have it).  Sew from the bottom of your apron to the top of each pouch. 

And, whadda know?  You've got your mini-apron! 
Now, go make you some Corn Pouches so you have a reason to wear your new apron!