Sewing project finished: Steph's purple toile apron, part V

I finally was able to finish the apron I've been making as a gift for katiescarlett29*!


The only real stumbling block I'd been having, besides finding the time, was it was tough to decide what would be good material for the straps. I went through several possibilities, but the fabric the apron itself was made of wasn't sturdy enough and the rug binding I tried was too stiff to be tied. Eventually I settled on this sort of woven poly stuff that could be easily sewn, has some heft to it, and knots and unknots easily. The color's a little bit off, but I think it works anyway.

I had three yard-long sections of the stuff, which only occurred to me later was not the most useful measures in which to buy it. So first I attached the neck strap by tucking it under the fold on the top, folding it up over itself, cutting off the excess, and sewing it in with the top fold sandwiched between the two layers of the woven length. It hangs nicely and seems secure. Then I laid the two other yard-long sections over the middle of the apron with the ends meeting in the center. Those I also sewed in place with a long rectangle over the span of it. Then I took that extra bit cut off from the neck strap, tucked under each cut end to make it look nicer, and sewed it over the belt to hide where the two pieces joined in the middle. It looks kind of decorative that way, and hides the fact that it's not one continuous piece like it should be.

I gave it to Steph last night. She has a birthday coming up at the end of the week, so I guess I could have waited, but I was so pleased to have finished that I wanted to her to have it. She's waited long enough. I am glad to report that she really liked it, as I hoped she would. She even liked the way the trapezoidal shape allowed it to wrap more around her legs. Since that shape is a remnant of having to correct for the problem with the original pattern, it's quite lucky that it works so well for her. I hope it proves useful, and given that it's purple, it should at least match most of her clothes. ;-)