Dish Towel Apron Tutorial

I have made these to give to my daughters teachers for the end of the school year, yes I know what you are thinking.... weren't the tissue holders for them. Yes they were but these are too. This is the last thing I am making to give them. Anyway I thought I would post how I did it on here. I seriously think they turned out so cute. In fact I am off to the grocery store to get some more dish towels to make myself one. They are so cheap too. I bought a 3 pack of dish towels for £5.00 and I bought 5 yards of ribbon for only £1.00 I used a little more than half of the ribbon to to these. so I would say in total 1 apron has cost me about £2.16. I am sure that in the states you can get the supplies for just as cheap. Let me know what you think!

You will need:

1 Dish towel
3 yards of ribbon
sewing machine
thread and needles.

(Yep that is it! So simple huh?!?!)

Step 1: Wash and Dry your dish towel and then iron it. Dish towels are normally 100% cotton and if you dont wash it first than it will shrink and look funny when you go to wash it the first time!! :)



Step 2: I wanted to tie in the towel and the actual straps so I cut off part of the Ribbon and sewed it to the top and bottom of the dish towel. So for Step 2 you will need to measure the correct amount of Ribbon for the top and bottom of the dish towel, pin in place and then using your sewing machine sew it into place.





Step 3. I thought it would look really cute if the top was gathered a little. So I did a simple hand stitch across the top pulling the thread tight to give the gathered look effect. Remember at the end to do a backstitch.



Here is a picture of the top of the apron / dish towel after it is gathered together.



Step 4: Now you need to measure the Ribbon for around your neck. I put the ribbon around my neck and decided how long I wanted it. I did mine 30" long. Cut the ribbon and pin it in place just below the gathered ribbon one on the right side and one on the left. Be sure that the ribbon is not twisted.



Step 5: Sew the ribbon in place for the neck strap.

Step 6: Measure the amount of ribbon you want for the ties around the waist. I did this by tying the ribbon in a bow around my waist and then cutting it off. Then fold the ribbon in half and cut, you need half for the right side and half for the left.

Step 7: Hanging the apron / dish towel from your neck measure how far down you want your waist straps. Pin in place and them on. I sewed them on the seem which was already there.



Step 8: Cut off all loose stings and any excess ribbon that you may have. When cutting off the ribbon leave 1/4" below the stitching. Then using a match melt the edges of the ribbon to keep it from fraying. You do not need to keep the ribbon in the flame but for a second as any longer will burn the edges of the ribbon and you dont want the, I accidentally caught my apron in the flame look! :)



Thats it Now you have a lovely homemade Apron and possibly two matching dish towels if you bought them in a set. ADORABLE!!