Sassy Bags and Rags: Shirt to Apron Tutorial

You can take this great shirt and make an even greater looking apron.

Follow along and see what we can do.

Lay it out flat.

Cut the arms and back out right along the seams.

Cut again, sloping down from the neck to the arm pit. Yep, leave the collar in place. That is the charming part about this apron. I love this two tone shirt I found. Levi shirts also look great.

I leave a little bit around the neck so I can turn it under for a finished seam.

I also angled the sides down to the bottom. I leave as much of the bottom seam as I can. Sometimes I have left it square from the sides to the bottom. You just have to cut off the side seams.

Cut two 4 inch strips from the very back of the back. These will be your waist ties. The length turns out to be perfect.

I fold the 4 inch strips in halve lengthwise and iron. I finished both long sides with a rolled hem on my serger. If you don't have a serger, you can turn in the unfinished edge and top stitch both sides. The bottom seam of the shirt will become the finished end of the tie. It a little uneven at the end but being that it was the bottom of the shirt makes it fun.

Put a little pleat in the tie and pin it about a half inch down at the waist. Sew it in place. This is where I serge all my raw edges. But you can also zig-zag the edges. Turn them under 1/4 and topstitch.

We are almost done.

On the front of the apron, to keep it from flying open. I sew down both sides of the panel from about the third button down. I leave the top open so it can be opened and closed as needed.