Little Girls Vintage Apron Tutorial

My little Miss Bridie is obsessed with MasterChef and all things cooking at the moment, so I thought that for her birthday on Saturday, I would make her an apron.
Only I couldn’t find an online tutorial for any that I liked, so instead I thought ‘hey! Why not make my own! I can do that!’

Turns out I can do that.
Make an apron from scratch that is.
The tutorial bit is what I’m trying now.

So with no further ado, I present to you. My very first ‘how to.’

How to make a little girls vintage apron.

Now Bridie is almost six and quite tall, but I tried this one on Taylah and it still fit her and she is nine, but if you have an older child I would adjust the sizes to fit.

You will need:

1 metre of fabric for the apron (I used a floral check)
1/2 metre of fabric for the ties and pockets (I used a pink floral)

From the floral check cut:
Two small rectangles, 9″ by 10″
Two large rectangles, 12″ by 24″

From the pink floral cut
Two strips 4″ by 12″
One strip 5″ by 48″
Pockets

Take your two floral strips (4″ by 12″) and fold in half, with right sides together. Press to achieve a nice smooth look. (FYI, I’m a big fan of pressing. I think sewer’s who refuse to iron are just being lazy. Press everything people!)
On one end, fold the corner back, to create a triangle with the right side facing you. Do this to both sides, and then pin all along the length of the strip.
Sew together using a quarter inch seam, turn right sides out, and push the corner out with a skewer.
Then press it.
Do this to both strips until you have your shoulder straps.

Take one of the shoulder straps and pin to one of the small rectangles, a quarter inch away from the edge, right sides facing.

Do the same with the other strap to the other side.
Once you are happy with the placements of the straps, pin the other rectangle over the top, so that the straps are in sides and right sides are facing.

With your quarter inch foot, sew along the sides and top, leaving the bottom open for turning.

Next, take one of the large rectangles, and fold in half to find the centre. Mark it with a pin.
Measure three inches out from the centre on each side, and place a pin every one inch for the next three.

Sew pleats into the apron skirt, using the pins as a guide.
I’d give you a better explanation, except I don’t really know how. You’ll work it out

From the remnants of your pink floral, cut out your pockets. I made two, conventional shaped pockets, but you could do one large one, or even heart shapes.

Fold the edges of your pockets in a 1/4″ and press.

To make life really complicated, you can sew pleats into these too.
Or not.

Place the pockets on your skirt, and when your happy with the placement, sew them on.

Take the front of your skirt, and right sides together, pin to the back. (The other rectangle) They won’t match perfectly, due to the pleats, but that’s ok. Line it up as best you can, and then sew with a 1/4″ inch seam, using the front as your guide, and leaving a gap at the top centre.
Trim any excess and turn it inside out.

Once again, find the centre of your skirt, and then match this with the centre of the apron bib.
Pin the top to the back of the apron skirt, and then sew. This will leave the raw seam at the front, but that’s ok, cause we are going to cover it with the waist band.

Make sure you press it all flat.

For the waist band, do the same as with the straps, except that you will have two triangles at either end, and leave a gap in the centre for turning.
After sewing the gap, press the band again, but this time do it so that the seam is in the middle of the band, and not on the edge.

Line up the middle of the waist band with the middle of the apron, and pin the band on, with the seam hidden.

To ensure the band is evenly placed, turn the apron over; the top of the skirt should be on the line of the seam.

Sew as close to the edge of the band on the bottom and top, then wa Lah! You have made a tiny little apron for a special little girl.

Bridie is yet to see it as it’s her birthday present, but Taylah was pretty impressed and asked for one too.

So what do you think?
As far as tutorials go, how did I do?