• About
  • Made in America
  • Shop
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

Lucy Lean

Luxurious and Healthy Meals - Memories in the Making

  • COOK
  • LIVE
  • LAUGH
  • ART
  • TRAVEL
  • WELCOME!

in Fun D.I.Y· Holidays· home decor· How to make...· Lean Luxury· Luxury Gift Ideas· sewing· Thousand Things

How to Make an Apron, A Thousand Things #2

How to make an apron from a tea towel - easy sewing projectIt’s the first day of Spring Break! Woo Hoo! I love the school holidays almost as much as I did when I was a kid. Day one of a whole list of things to do together to have a super fun time. This is a very quick and easy sewing project to make an apron that I am doing with Minty and Rémy as part of that long list we put together, it’s meant to be all the things we’ve never done before although I see that No. 1 is Sleeping! Making the list was a really fun exercise in and of itself although not sure it counts as one of our 1000 things to do. We all came up with ideas – some creative, some active and others to do with food. There’s a trip to Sugar Fish for sushi, planting a veggie garden (probably will get scaled back to some tomatoes and herbs in pots), pack a picnic and go to the beach, set up a target and do archery in the back garden, hold a swimming gala and award medals, decorate a cake at Cake Mix, do a blindfolded taste test, pitch a tent and camp in the garden, watch a movie and develop a recipe based on it, a gymnastics special skills lesson for Mummy, redesign a piece of store bought clothing a la Great British Sewing Bee, go wallpaper shopping at Walnut, test drive the Fiat 500, make a music video and learn the lines to a scene from a Shakespeare play. That’s barely scratched the surface of our 50 things to do this spring break but you get the idea.
How to make an apron from a tea towel - easy sewing project

I really want Minty and Rémy to learn how to use a sewing machine, they are not very keen, and this is the perfect project to get them started – just two short straight lines of stitching. The finished apron isn’t in the league of one of my favorite creatives, Ellen Bennett, and her gorgeous apron line – Headley and Bennett – but for me it’s more about the fun in the journey and less about the aprons!  I learned to sew on a sewing machine at an early age and have always loved it. At school my favorite O level was Fashion and Fabrics with Myrtle which I had to do in my free time because it wasn’t considered a serious enough subject and would have meant dropping Geography. My first wages, earned behind the bar at Balls Brothers in the City of London, were spent on a sewing machine from John Lewis. In New York I  hand-made bags and sold my creations on Madison Avenue, as well as making 125 bags for Clinique. I still use my favorite Lucy Lean bag and look at it now and can’t believe I actually made it from scratch!

So here’s the instructions for the apron – super easy and really useful too. Remy’s tea towel was a gift from Kathy Delgado at Vintageweave – it’s a delicious piece of linen with useful conversions on it. I found Minty’s tea towel at World Market and couldn’t resist it as she bakes every day and she’s also founded a club at school called the Keep Calm and Carry on Club.
How to make an apron from a tea towel - easy sewing project

Easy Tea Towel Apron

You will need 

One tea towel
3 yards of ribbon or twill
thread
pins
ruler
a sewing machine
a steam iron

What to do

How to make an apron from a tea towel - easy sewing project

1. Iron the tea towel and mark the top center with a pin. Using a ruler measure 4 inches from the center on both sides and mark with pins – (A) . Measure down 10 inches on both sides and mark with pins (B).

How to make an apron from a tea towel - easy sewing project

2. Fold from (A) to (B) and iron to the back on both sides.
How to make an apron from a tea towel - easy sewing project

3. Mark 1 inch from the fold.
How to make an apron from a tea towel - easy sewing project4.  Cut.
How to make an apron from a tea towel - easy sewing project5. Iron under 1/4 inch and press down.
How to make an apron from a tea towel - easy sewing project6. Topstich to form a neat casing.
How to make an apron from a tea towel - easy sewing project7. Thread the ribbon through the casing leaving a loop at the top for your head to go through.
How to make an apron from a tea towel - easy sewing project8. Wear your finished aprons with pride – and keep calm and bake on!
How to make an apron from a tea towel

9. If you want to add a pocket and use contrasting straps here are the instructions for a modified version that requires more sewing. I find making the straps really tedious and advise you to stick with the ribbon – if you want a fancy apron with pockets, that’s comfortable and practical and worn by the best chefs in America, you can’t go wrong with a Headley and Bennett – pop over to their site and buy one! There’s something about her hashtag #Made in America that appeals, I wonder why? ; )

How to make an apron from a tea towel - easy sewing project

 

 

Filed Under: Fun D.I.Y, Holidays, home decor, How to make..., Lean Luxury, Luxury Gift Ideas, sewing, Thousand Things Tagged With: A thousand things, Apron, Cake Mix, Easy kid's project, Ellen Bennett, Fashion and Fabrics, Fiat 500, fun crafting together, Fun things to do, Great British Sewing Bee, Headley and Bennett, How to Make an Apron from a tea towel, Kathy Delgado, Keep Calm and Bake On, Keep Calm and Carry On Club, Made in America, School Holidays, sewing machine, sewing project, Shakespeare, Spring Break, Sugar Fish, Tea Towel Apron, Vintageweave, Walnut Wallpaper

« How the Farmer’s Daughter Joined a CSA plus the Best Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe – EVER!
Happy Easter! Recipe for Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting »

Comments

  1. Kathy Delgado says

    April 18, 2014 at 4:42 pm

    Heavens, you are AMAZZZING! These are incredible! Plus the tutorial makes it seem so doable even for a sewing dork like me. Love, love, love it.

    Reply
    • Lucy says

      April 18, 2014 at 4:44 pm

      no such thing as a sewing dork! We can’t wait to see your apron 🙂

      Reply
  2. G says

    December 4, 2015 at 7:25 pm

    OMG! My new favorite apron! I’ve been saving some tea towels since they went on clearance this fall, but wasn’t sure how I wanted to make my aprons. An upcoming cookie swap spurred me to look for a pattern. Yours was no hassle to swim through ads and other to get to a clearly written and easily done pattern! Thank you, I just love it! Now I know what everyone is getting for Christmas! BTW, I have two daughters and love your Thousand Things idea!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I have a present for you

a little lean luxury
My 5 ways to get lean, easy tips to a healthier you.

Subscribe Today!

VIP treatment, in the know and occasional newsletter - plus my gift to you
My 5 ways to get lean, easy tips to a healthier you.

Come on an Adventure

  • COOK
  • LIVE
  • LAUGH
  • ART
  • TRAVEL
  • WELCOME!

looking for something?

Copyright © 2023 Lucy Lean