Cute & Flirty Apron Tutorial

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I love baking and I love sewing, so some of my very favorite things to sew are aprons. I have about 6 of this style of apron now, but this is my first patriotic one! I thought it would be really fun to have a red, white and blue one for the 4th of July! But you can do it in any fabric and for any holiday or occasion or non occasion you want. You can’t have too many of these!

Cute and Flirt Apron Tutorial:

Supplies Needed:

About 3/4 yard of your main fabric
About 3/4 yard for the fabric on the back
About 1 yard of fabric for the ruffle and straps

To start out you are going to cut out your main pieces. The basic shape should look like this:

The dimensions are:
25″ long from top to bottom
11″ across the top (so with your fabric folded in half as shown above, measure 5.5″)
22″ across the widest point (again, you are measuring half of that since your fabric is folded, so 11″)
and then just curve around to reach the bottom matching the shape above

To make the straps you need to cut 2 pieces of fabric that are about 4 inches wide and that are 45″ long. I do this is the same fabric that I am doing my ruffle in, so in this case it was the red and white polkadot.

Folding the straps so that right sides are together, sew the length of your straps and turn them and then press them nice and flat. I like to make the ends angled just to add a little flair:

For the neck strap you need a piece that is 4″ wide by 22″ long. Fold it with right sides together, stitch the length of it and turn it. Then press it flat.

For the ruffle, cut out 2 strips that are 45″ long and about 7-8 inches wide. To make this long enough to create your ruffle, you need to sew these to strips together in the middle so that you end up with a piece that is about 90″ long. You won’t use the whole thing, but you will use a lot of it.

So, sew it together in the middle:

Then fold over one end and stitch it so that you have a nice little hem:

And then fold it in half with right sides outand press it nice and flat.

Now, put your 2 pieces of apron together with right sides touching.

Get your straps in place. They need to be tucked inside the apron in the spots that you want them. For the neck straps put them at the top just about 1/2 inch in from the edge of your apron on either side. Pin them in place.

Make sure the side straps are at least 1/2 inch down from the corner (see below).

Now you get to make your ruffle. Make sure your main fabric is on top. Working from the spot where you just put your side strap and making sure to put your ruffle piece in FRONT of your strap, start with the hemmed side. Lift your top fabric out of your way just a little so that you can work and get everything in place: (raw edge of the ruffle is out)

begin to make little pleats like this:

and pin them in place as you go, sandwiching it between your 2 main fabrics:

Do them about every 1-2 inches. You can measure if you are a perfectionist. I just eyeball it. They should look something like this from the side. Stick a pin in each pleat all the way around the apron.

Do that all the way around to the other side.

When you get to the other side and can see where you are going to end, you will need to cut off your ruffle fabric and hem that end in the appropriate place BEFORE making your final pleat.

Once you have your apron ruffle pinned all the way around, sew your apron. Start at the corner where you started your ruffle and go all the way around the whole apron but leave a small opening to turn it at the end.

Turn the apron and pull out the straps and ruffle and get everything nice and smooth.

Press it flat, fold the edges of your opening in and top stitch the opening closed. Then go bake something GREAT for the 4th of July!

You can make this in any fabric! I have done Halloween and Christmas and then just cute everyday fabrics. Love them!

Want to see what I made with some of the scraps?

4th of July Baby Dress