Sew Your Own Ruffle Apron

I thought I posted this yesterday, but realized for some reason it didn't upload.  So here it is a day late!

Last weekend I had the privilege of attending my good friend Lindsay Wymer's bridal shower.  The soon-to-be Mrs. Omler was just radiant as we celebrated her upcoming nuptials!

I wanted to give her a little something homemade {she is one of those people who truly appreciates thoughtful, gifts from the heart}, and she is fairly domestic, so I figured an apron {along with some truly useful cooking supplies} would we appropriate.

My inspiration for the ruffle apron came from Pier 1's aprons and my recent obsession with ruffles.

Supplies:
4 coordinating fabrics {1 yard for the main piece or 2 yards if you wish to double side it as I did, 1/4 yard for each of the three ruffles}
Sewing Machine
Pins
Fabric scissors
{Optional}
Serger
Apron pattern

Directions:

Start with your coordinating fabrics

Pin your pattern to the fabric and cut out the material.  If you don't wish to use a pattern {mine was $.50 at Walmart, but it wasn't a very accurate size, so I ended up altering it anyway} you can use an existing apron as an outline or just take measurements of yourself and decide how to cut it out.

{Optional}

I cut out a second apron from another fabric to use as a backing and double up the apron just to make it heavier {you don't want grease splattering through}. Then I serged them together.

NOTE: I used a serger for just about everything on this apron, but if you don't have a serger, hemming everything with a regular straight stitch or a zig-zag stitch on a sewing machine will work just fine as well.

Cut out and sew on the strings and neck loop.  To make each of those you must cut long strips of fabric to the desired length and double up the width.  Then with right-sides in, stitch along the length and turn it right-side out again.

You could stop here and have a simple, but cute apron...OR you could go on to adding the ruffles for a truly custom look!

Cut each of the coordinating fabric into a long strip {My top ruffle was 6" and the bottom 2 were 8", the length is generally double the width of the apron, but since the fabric isn't that wide, I just went from one side to the other as wide as I could}.

Here, I serged my ruffle bottoms with a rolled stitch and the tops with a regular 4 thread stitch, but you could simply hem them on both top and bottom.

Using a long stitch on your sewing machine, sew a straight line at the top of all three ruffles.  Pull the thread to make the fabric ruffle at the top to the same width as the apron.

Pin the ruffles on the apron, starting with the bottom one and sew onto the apron.

With the top ruffle, sew it upside down, so when you flip the ruffle back down you won't see the seam.

Finish the apron by either serging the sides in a rolled stitch like I did, or hemming the sides with a sewing machine.

Now you have an adorable, girly, frilly, homemade, heartfelt apron. 

Doesn't baking seem so much more fun with a cute apron!!!