Shannon Sews: Anthropologie refashion: Tablecloth to apron

Back in December during my Anthropologie shopping spree, I ran across this brightly ruffled 72" round tablecloth in the sale section. It screamed for me to buy it and transform it into something else (since after all, it was just a giant piece of fabric from my favorite store)...so I happily took it home with me.

Here it is in all its 72" glory

And here it is now, in it's lovely new life as a cheery, ruffly apron:

A girl can't have too many aprons you know.

So as not to leave you empty handed, here's a peek at how I put this apron together:

As with my other tablecloth to apron repurposing project, I used a simple apron I had on hand to use as a pattern guide - folded it in half, along with the fabric

And snipped around the outside edges, allowing room for seams

I also made sure I had a nice straight edge on the top of my apron (btw - I LOVE my self-healing mat and acrylic ruler...wouldn't want to sew without it)

Next, I folded over the edges, in preparation to hem. This is where my iron came in handy.

I always wondered what all the fuss was about when people talked about using an iron while sewing, until I tried it. I love my iron! Iron as you fold over and it will stay beautifully, making pinning a hem so much easier.

And then I got the curves ready for hemming...

And made the corners nice and clean

And here is the hemmed apron - all sides and ruffle.

Then the not so fun part...lots of seam ripping to get to that nice big piece of ruffled fabric for the waist band and neck tie

I was glad I ripped the seams like I did though, so I could use as much of the fabric as possible.

For the neck tie, I cut, folded over and straight stitched a long straight strip from the ruffle

For the neckline, I folded over the hemmed edge and stitched, with enough room for the neck tie to be pulled through

I love the natural gathered effect this design gives to the neckline

The waist band was simply folding over the raw edges of another straight strip from the ruffle, and sewing it down on the waist line

With enough room for a long piece of grosgrain ribbon to fit through, for the waist tie

Since I was sewing by the seat of my pants, I didn't think through the waist band completely. I sewed the waist band down without hemming the outer edges. So instead of ripping it all apart, I used a little Fray Check on the outer edges of the waist band. And used a little on the edges of the ribbon. Not the way I would normally finish an edge, but it worked. Next time better planning.