Sewing project progress: Jared's black and white checked apron

As I mentioned, I have finally brought my sewing machine up to Boston. That means I can finally move forward with my several beginning sewing projects. Aprons are good practice, and when Jared saw the black and white checked cotton I'd gotten off eBay he asked if I could make one for him. In order to avoid the mistake I made with Steph's, where the thing came out too short and needed to be extended, I measured it basically just by holding it up to him and asking him where he wanted it to come down to. The fabric was folded over in two layers when I did this. Then I folded it in half again and carefully cut off one top corner of the resulting rectangle at an angle to accommodate the wearer's arms. This is how it turned out when I unfolded it.

But recently I decided that the fabric was not sturdy enough to serve as an effective apron. So yesterday Jared, Steph, and I went on a trip to a fabric store in Arlington. I usually just go to the Joann's near Burlington, but while the notions are okay the fabric there is pretty junky, so I wanted to find a real one that might be better. There I bought a yard of linen-like sew-in interfacing while Steph found some decorative cord to tie back her new curtain. I cut the interfacing slightly smaller than the cut-out apron piece and sandwiched it between the two layers of checked cotton.

While we were at the fabric store Jared suggested we find something that might serve for the ties of the apron. We looked at a bunch of different options before settling on this black woven cloth tape that is apparently used for binding rugs and stabilizing shoulders. Though floppy, it is sturdy and thick, and should work nicely for the neck strap and the back ties. I also like how the solid black breaks up the large swatch of check.This is how it looks like with the ties just laid in place.

The next step is sewing. I think I will use white thread for most of it, but I'm not sure I want the stitches to contrast that much on the belt, so for that I might switch in black thread instead. Hopefully, if I am far enough along in my homework, I will be able to spend some time on it tonight.