You will need
- 1 x pair of old denim jeans (adult size)
- 1 x 20cm square of colourful fabric (for the decorative heart)
- 1 x heart template
- 1 x A2 sheet of white paper
- sewing scissors
- sewing machine
- a stitch unpicker
Activity
- Draw up an apron template on a large sheet of paper. You can free-hand it or trace around an existing child’s apron if you have one. Make sure it is symmetrical, so that you can lay it folded onto the jeans leg for cutting (see video).
- Fold the template in half, down the vertical line and lay it on the jeans leg, so that the jeans seam is on the fold of the template.
- Cut that out. When you unfold it, you should have an apron.
- Now you just need to utilise other bits of the jeans to finish things off.
- Use a stitch unpicker to remove the two pockets from the back of the jeans. Pin them in place on the lower half of your arpon.
- Now cut the remaining jeans seam, for use as the neck loop.
- Cut the jeans waistband to use as your apron’s waist ties. (If you size it loosely to your child’s waist, you should be able to use the jeans button and the jeans buttonhole to fasten the apron at the waist.)
- Now cut a heart shape from your colourful fabric. In the true spirit of upcycling, use whatever scraps you have lying around: an old baby blanket, a shirt that no longer fits, etc. (I used a scrap of red felt.)
- Set your machine to a long ‘seam and overcast’ stitch with a narrow width (as close to a buttonhole stitch as you can go.)Â Now sew around the raw edge of the apron.
- (If your machine doesn’t have a seam and overcast stitch, you can just use a narrow width, long length zigzag stitch.)
- To save yourself the trouble of hemming the heart shape, use the same seam and overcast stitch to sew the heart in place.
- Now use a standard straight stitch to sew on the pockets (don’t forget to leave them open at the top) and to attach the waist ties and neck loop. (You may want to test the sizing against your child before you commit.)
- All done and ready to craft in style.
