Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Stitch It and Gift It ~ My Day!


Stitched and Ready To Gift!

My "Pumpkin and Spice and Everything Nice" Tea Towel Apron
for a sweet and spicy gal who is everything nice.


with a large tea towel and a half yard of fabric.
That is all that is needed to make this apron.


The tea towel motif is heat pressed vinyl and was custom made for me by my daughter,



I bought three of these pumpkin spice tea towels,
 one for the apron,
 one to gift with the apron as a set
and one for me. 


I drew the pattern myself on a sheet of the heavy duty white paper 
that Fat Quarter Shop uses for packing material in their boxes.  
Very useful and recyclable stuff.

I patterned it from an old apron  which I folded in half.
I made the old apron many years ago from a panel.
I like the fit and string ties.


I pinned the handmade pattern on the folded towel and cut with shears.


The 29" square towel with the arm holes cut is a good size for a small bib apron.
The top, sides and bottom edge is already bound.
Only the new cut edges for the arms need to be finished. 

To do this and make the head loop and back ties, I made bias tape. 


From the half yard of fabric I cut three 2" by WOF strips for bias binding.


I have a bias tape making kit.
I used the largest tool to make the bias tape for the loop and ties and arm binding.

'The binding strips could also be made by hand by folding in the long edges, 
pressing, and then folding lengthwise in half and pressing again. 


I pressed the bias tape in half.
The I folded the long strip in half to find the middle for the top loop
 and clipped around the cut edges for the arms
and the long ties for the back.


My heavy duty foot on my Janome stitched through these layers easily. 


At this point I decided the bib needed a decorative pocket, 
so I cut a 6.5" square out of the pumpkin fabric 
and lined it with a square cut from the tea towel scraps.
I sandwiched, sewed, flipped and sewed to the top of the apron.

I decided to make this apron longer and add 
a wide strip of the pumpkin print to the bottom.


I cut the remaining half yard piece to 32" and pinned it to the front
bottom of the apron.
I actually did not measure the depth.
I just used what was left of the half yard and cut it the width of the apron 
plus a 1" on each side to fold the cut end in sew.


I pinned it to the bottom and sewed it on the back
just inside the hem of the tea towel.


Then I flipped and pressed and top stitched it down.


I am very happy with this worked up and it took only about an hour to make. 

The hemmed edges of the tea towel on the sides and top made it super easy. 


I have a few more of these cute tea towels to make more apron gifts this year.
to see more designs, including some festive red and black buffalo plaid ones for Christmas, 

This apron could also be cut from a yard of fabric in place of the tea towel.
It could be made two sided, too.

I really like this versatile apron pattern. 

I hope you enjoy all the nighty gifty ideas in the blog hop today:


Tuesday, November 12th

Life in the Scrapatch (you are here)
Carla @ Creatin' In The Sticks
who has a rafflecopter giveaway happening for this hop.


I hope you have enjoyed my apron tutorial and
will be inspired to make your own for gifts this year.

Happy Stitching and Gifting this holiday season! 

40 comments:

Farm Quilter said...

What a cute apron!! Love the embroidery on the bottom. How clever to use a beautiful tea towel and turn it into a beautiful apron!

Jacqueline said...

Great tut, I like that it is pretty and practical.

KaHolly said...

Awesome gift! You are so creative!

Sarah said...

What a great idea and so clever!

Susie said...

Great gift and so easy to do thanks for sharing. Hugs, Susie xx

Elizabeth Coughlin said...

What a fantastic idea! Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful apron and the details of how you made it!

Kate @ Smiles From Kate said...

Clever use of a tea towel. Thank you for the tutorial.

Moira said...

Great idea for the apron. Thanks for the tutorial on how to make it!

Carla said...

Great idea, Pat. Your daughter really has some cute designs. Thanks for joining the hop and sharing this super gift idea.

Sharon Aurora said...

I love the apron. I need to make an apron for my husband.

Melva said...

What a fun project! My youngest daughter loves her aprons. Thanks for sharing :)
MelvaLovesScraps(at)NolanQualityCustoms(dot)com

Karrin Hurd said...

What a cute apron! Thanks so much for sharing!

wendy said...

Great apron idea! Thank you for sharing it!

Calicojoan said...

Oh my goodness, how cute is that! I love the idea of using those big tea towels. Your daughter's vinyl's are too cute!

Jennifer Fulton Inquiring Quilter said...

Such a cute apron, and just in time for Thanksgiving! Thanks for sharing your tutorial.

Vasudha said...

Great idea - using a tea towel. I've seen some cool ones. Thank you for the detailed process pictures. Very cool apron.

The Joyful Quilter said...

I would love it if someone made me an apron like they m this!!

Danice G said...

Oh such beautiful work, I love all of it.

Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

Lovely!! I love the pumpkin colors!!! What a great gift!

Cynthia's Creating Ark said...

A lovely apron. So easy to do. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

What a cute way to repurpose a tea towel. Adorable apron!

Siouxzq64@gmail.com said...

Awe love your tea towel apron.

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

Oh that is cute! Such a great idea to reuse that packing paper to draw your pattern, too!

Charlene McCain said...

Great apron! Thank you so much for the tutorial on how to make this. Perfect for gift giving!

Chantal said...

That's a great gift to make. Love the decal and the fabric is perfect with it. Great job! ;^)

LJ said...

That's a really cute apron. Love that you recycle. Thanks for the neat tut.

traco said...

What a wonderful use of a tea towel!! You are so smart:)! —Tracy @ It’s a T-Sweets Day!

Denise :) said...

Darling, darling! I love a good apron!!! :)

Sue D said...

Love this cute pumpkin themed apron!

teachpany said...

That's really cute! The vinyl idea is great.

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

Aprons make great gifts. This is a really cute one too.
xx, Carol

Carol Swift said...

This is so sweet and such a great gift idea...thanks for sharing, Pat!

Anita Jackson @ Domestic Felicity said...

Such a pretty apron!

Sharon said...

So spicy! Cute apron po! Thanks for sharing.

Brandy said...

Such a cute apron! I love me a good seasonal apron, my mom made some double sided ones for me, my sister, and herself a few years ago from panels. We all have matching fall sides then the other side was personalized to our tastes. I am only missing one for Valentines Day, I may have to gift myself one! Also, I love that one of your kitties is named Nutmeg, such a cute name for a cute kitty! (Maestro is also quite handsome.)

Brandy

Michelle said...

Your tea towel aprons are so pretty and perfect for Thanksgiving.

Brenda @ Songbird Designs said...

What an adorable apron, Pat! Thanks so much for sharing!! I love your kitties too!

tink's mom said...

What a great idea. Love it, I think I even have a couple of those towels boxed up somewhere just waiting for an idea like this.

Leah said...

Beautiful apron. Love the embroidery!

Joy from Days Filled With Joy said...

Such a cute apron and great tutorial! Thanks for sharing! xx