In In the Studio, Middle School

tie-dye aprons | www.smallhandsbigart.com

We recently made about 500 tie-dyed superhero capes for the Isabella Santos Foundation 5k for Kids Cancer.  We thought it would be fun to give kids some cool ideas to repurpose their purple & turquoise tie-dye fabric if they ever get tired of wearing them as capes!  The idea is that they will continue to wear them to help spread awareness for ISF and childhood cancer.  So we teamed up with our friend Heather Valentine from The Sewing Loft, and bribed her super creative daughters with some tie-dyed socks, to help us whip up some easy DIY projects like this Five Minute Apron.

First up, we’re excited to show you this Five Minute Apron! Technically, Heather was able to stitch it together in only two, because she is just THAT talented!  She probably could have whipped it up in about 37 seconds if I hadn’t been chasing her around & yelling at her to slow down so I could take a picture! This is literally the easiest project ever and is so versatile!  It’s an art apron & kitchen apron all wrapped up in one (how apropos with Thanksgiving right around the corner!), & basically just a super cute fashion accessory to hold all of your fancy little do-dads anytime you just need a few extra pockets!

{  Check The Sewing Loft’s Facebook page or super popular blog to try your hand at some of Heather’s creative sewing projects!  }

What You Need for the Five Minute Apron

  • a 20 x 30 piece of cotton — you could repurpose an old pillow case!
  • two pieces of ribbon, approximately 10″ each
  • needle & thread or a sewing machine
  • scissors
  • matching tie-dye superhero socks (optional)

How to Do It

1.  Pre-wash fabric.

2.  If the fabric is wrinkled or crooked, “block” it by stretching it as shown in the picture below.  This helps square it back up and get it on grain so that the finished piece will hang straight and maintain its shape.

tie-dye aprons | www.smallhandsbigart.com

apron7

3.  Fold your fabric length-wise, and then fold it back down to form the top edge of the pockets (the fold on the underside becomes the bottom of the pockets).  There is no right or wrong way to do this – just eyeball it based on your preferred apron length and how deep you want your pockets.

tie-dye aprons | www.smallhandsbigart.com

tie-dye aprons | www.smallhandsbigart.com

4.  Starting at the top outside edge of the pockets, stitch two straight seams down each side of the apron, ending at the bottom edge of the pocket (not the bottom edge of the front of the apron).  Then, depending on how many pockets you’d like, simply sew additional straight seams to form each additional pocket.  We wanted three pockets on our apron, so we divided the apron in thirds, and sewed two additional seams.  To add a little more visual interest, Heather used a dark purple contrasting thread & a zig-zag stitch.

tie-dye aprons | www.smallhandsbigart.com

5.  Sew two pieces of ribbon to each of the top corners of the apron so the apron can be tied in the back.  Our tie-dyed cape already had a hole for the neck ribbon, so we just cut another little hole on the other side and strung another piece of ribbon.

tie-dye aprons | www.smallhandsbigart.com

Voila!

tie-dye aprons | www.smallhandsbigart.com

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Comments
  • Ayrtone
    Reply

    These aprons are adorable. I homeschool and am now following your blog to get inspiration for my classes at home. This blog looks fantastic. I’m happy I stumbled across it!

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