Some of you have noticed I’ve been hanging out in the local tattoo shop an awful lot
lately. And I got this incredible idea to create this awesome workshop apron from the
guys at Sink and Swim Tattoo in Grover Beach. Thank you. They’re making these incredible
aprons out of leather that they can work in and keep all of the inks off of their clothing
while they’re performing their art form. And today in doing my art form I’m going
to teach you how to make this awesome workshop apron. Let’s get started.
So for this awesome custom workshop apron I’m using the James Thompson fabric. It’s
a nine ounce duck and it’s really nice light sewable canvas. And it’s working great on
the apron itself. And I also used some D rings and some adjustable two inch slide rings.
You could always make your straps tieable. I wanted it to be adjustable. I’m going
to teach you how to make them adjustable today. And then also if you’ll just bounce below
into the description. We’ve got a link for you where we actually have a template, a PDF
where you can print it out. And I want you to go ahead and get all your parts and pieces
ready for your apron and your strapping and your trim before we start making anything.
So I’m going to take a step back. And we’re going to use a yard and a quarter of the 60
inch wide, I’m just going to call it canvas from here on out, ok?
You’re going to need to make four strips 2 ½ inches wide by the 60 long. So you’re
going to cut all of those 2 ½ inch wide strips first. Then printing out your pattern you’ll
be able to tape your pages together if you like. And then go ahead and on the fold you’ll
go ahead and start to cut out all the pieces including this little spot down below. And
that is actually the separation in the legs as you can see on the fabric that’s already
been cut. And that allows me to keep my apron over my pants or my shorts while I”m working.
Because I do a lot of sewing machine repair and so I’ve got oils and cleaners that I’m
working around and I really don’t want to get anything on my pants as well as on my
shirt. So that’s the benefit of the workshop apron is it goes nice and long and it’s
got the split in the legs so it travels with you very comfortably that way. So after you
have those 2 ½ inch strips cut you’ll also want to make your apron blank. So I’ve cut
this out and I’ve done a little bit of the work for you because we’ve got lots steps.
So some of them I’ve done and I’m going to walk you through. Some of them I’m going
to sew you through as well.
We’re going to start by making our straps. We’re going to do what I refer to as either
trim or strapping from here, ok? So you’re going to take your 2 ½ inch strips, you’ll
need to take one of them and join it together. So in order to do that we want to do it on
the bias so there’s no big thick lump that comes in through our ties and things back
in here. So this is part of what we’re making right now. And in order to do a bias seam
if you haven’t done it before, you’ll notice my fabrics are laying perpendicular
. And I’ve drawn a line that I’m going to stitch on from the upper corner here down
to the lower corner. And then that way when that stitches then this will fold just like
that and it will be on the bias and very easy to work with. So you’ll do that to two of
your 2 ½ inch strips, ok? The other two we’re going to just go ahead and prepare for, let’s
talk about making our trim pieces first, ok?
So follow me to the ironing board. For our trim pieces, this is a 2 ½ inch strip, I’ve
just cut it down so it fits on the board nicely. The first thing you’re going to do is you’re
going to fold over one of the edges by about a quarter of an inch . And you’re just going
to come through and you’re going to press that down. We’re trying to make this so
we have no raw edges. I prepped out another piece. And you can see here on this piece
I’ve actually gone ahead and set it so that I have both edges down. And I’m going to
go ahead and do that real quick. And what we’re basically doing is trying to create
it so we have no raw edges. So then our next step is going to be to go ahead and fold.
And what I’m actually doing is I’m joining and matching up that outer edge like yay.
This will be roughly an inch wide when it’s done. And for both the trim or the strapping
you’re going to go this far with all four of those strips that were the 60 inches by
something joined together so they’re 120. I know that. Now this is considered trim at
this point. We’re going to be able to put this on two places like this on the apron,
the raw edge of the apron so it won’t have to hem that. But in order to create it called
strapping, and I know you won’t be able to see my stitches very well on here. But
what I did is I stitched right on the edge with my black thread to finish off that area
here. And then I also went on the other side just to make it look cool and stitched along
the outer side there. Now I know with my cool white logo it would have been cool if I used
white thread across the entire apron so that you could see all the stitching but I really
wanted it to be dark. So that’s what I did. Of course you can use whatever color thread
you want so. Your trim and your strapping pieces are all made. You’ve cut out your
blank for your apron. It’s time to get started on those legs.
So for working on the leg straps of course you need to have your apron blank already
precut. We’re going to be working down below. I have taken some of my strapping itself.
I have two pieces that are cut at 2 ½ inches long. You can make it a little longer if you
wanted. I have one of the D rings and one of the lobster claw clips. I also have another
piece of that strapping that’s roughly 36 inches long. And what I did when I made my
first apron is I basically took that piece of strapping and cut it down to about 18 inches
or two parts that are 18 inches because that’s going to go around the back of my leg. If
you look closely here at the strap, this part right in here is the inside, the split between
the two legs. And our long strap is going to be stitched to this. We’ll install this
hardware later. And then on this outside strap we’re going to catch that little 2 ½ inch
piece with the D ring. And we’re going to catch it in the hem. And I’m going to walk
you through both of those.
But first we’re going to go ahead and we’re going to mark from our bottom edge here up,
eight inches, basically four times, two for each leg split, ok? Then our strapping, the
way it works, we’re going to take one of those 18 inch pieces and I’m going to go
ahead and I’m going to pin it so that I can baste stitch it right on the edge of the
split of the leg there, ok? So we’re going to go to the machine with that really quickly
and easily. We need to get that in so we can put that trim piece in. A couple of backstitches
but we’re going to catch them one more time, ok? So now that’s in there and I can go
ahead and remove that part. Like I said we’ll install the hardware in just a few moments.
Now what we need to do is we need to trim out this inner split or technically the crotch
of the apron. And you’re going to need about a 24 inch piece of the trim, right? So it’s
the open part. And what we’re going to do is what I like start down on the edge with
a quick little fold under and grab. And you know what if that seems a little cumbersome
to you we are going to be hemming the bottom hem of the apron too so you can certainly
just do a single layer. And come here. And as a matter of fact as I’m thinking it through
right now and I’m just going to recommend that for you, ok? Now I’m going to bring
this over here. I’m going to lay my needle right on the edge and I’m going to catch,
going backwards, I’m going to catch both layers of the trim piece and the apron all
in the one stitch. So basically just like I’m catching it through some bias tape.
And all I need to do is get a really good start and then I can massage the rest of it
as I go. So I’m going to take a couple of stitches. I’m going to drop my needle down
so it holds. And then I can come back in here and I can organize. And I’m just going to
sew up to that top portion and then back down the other leg. I found it was easiest to work
up to the top point. I stop about an inch back. I’m putting a real hard pinch on here
and I’m just going to kind of let it do what it needs to do. One of the benefits of
sewing the black thread on the black fabric is if for anything were to miss we could always
flip our apron over and stitch it again from the other side, catching now effectively both
sides of that trim. And of course you’re paying attention to what’s happening with
your strapping piece as you come around. This is the most cumbersome section of the entire
project. And it’s actually quite easy. So don’t stress out just take it nice and slow.
You’ve got a lot of thickness in here so don’t push or pull. That’s a great way
to snap a needle, ok? And then of course you’re just watching that leg trim, make sure you’ve
got it just as you want it. A little backstitch. I cut my thread. I’m immediately going to
come out of here and I’m just going to trim that off with my scissors. And we’ll catch
it in the hem later like we just decided to do on demand today, ok? And now I’m going
to flip this over and get ready to show you how to do that D ring on the other side.
So you’ve got your D ring. We’re going to go ahead and put it on the other side.
So you’re going to slip it into that 2 ½ inch strip. The raw edges are going to be
caught in this hem on the outside. So kind of with everything in my hand at once I’m
going to fold under just the apron. And then I’m going to catch that right below that
eight inch mark we did here. And before I go to the sewing machine I’m going to set
one pin through it as much as I can to hold things in place. And with that double fold
I’m just going to start at the bottom and stitch that whole hem up. After I stitch that
hem I also went up to this top neckline, this line right here. And I actually folded down
twice so that I could create what looked like trim but it was just a simple hem for the
neck. And I actually stitched twice anytime I used it to make it look like trim. So this
is just the apron top folded down. So you’ll do all of that before you can set in these
side seams like this.
See wasn’t that easy? Now the next thing we’re going to do is we’re going to do
each side trim at a time so we can make our neck portion adjustable. So of those pieces
that you had of the trim, we need one that’s roughly 50 inches long and another one roughly
90 inches long. And of course that’s going to depend on how big or small you are. I am
average. We’ll just leave it at that. We’re starting with our 50 inch trim and I’m purposely
starting with one of my selvedge edges so I don’t have to double fold. And the reason
that is going to be is what I want to do is I’m going to come around and we’re actually
going to catch this D ring portion of my rectangular ring portion up here. So the way this is going
to go is I’m going to inset because that’s what makes it a trim as I showed earlier on
that inner leg seam. I’m going to come up about two inches and then we’re going to
be able to fold this down and under just like this as we go, ok? So my first start seam
is actually going to be right here.
As I come in I like to get my chores done so I can play for the rest of the weekend.
So I’m going to do the hardest stitch first. And again it’s not hard, it’s just cumbersome.
And it would not have killed me to use a straight pin here a moment ago. So I’m just going
to get everything nice and organized on the trim like I did on the leg seam first. And
then I’m going to bring this out of the way here back and over. Perfect. Oh I love
that. And all I have to do is catch that. Drop that presser foot. Take a couple of stitches.
And now I’m onto the easy trim. And what we’re going to do is we’re going to trim
this all the way through this arm seam and then it becomes strapping. It actually becomes
the backstrap. Ok I should have pointed out to make sure you were folding your hardware
to the backside of your apron. And that’s why having that neck seam already established
is nice. Plus you just caught it in your trim too. Ok now I’m coming to the point where
my trim is going to start to become strapping. So I come right off. And now I’m just stitching
it closed like when I was creating that one piece of strapping we did at the beginning.
And the other thing I’ll point out while I’m sewing is we’re going to use our strapping
on the apron long. Same with the leg straps. We do all of our adjusting and custom fitting
once it’s all built. So I’m going to show you at the very end how to put that hardware
on. And I’m also on the leg strap. And I’ll also encourage you to tie this on a few times
and adjust before you finish the end of your strapping. So that next side is done here
with our D ring holder there, our rectangular ring. Now the other thing we’re going to
do, because remember we’re trying to make it all look consistent, is I’ll come back
out to this outer edge. And I’ll also stitch one more time to make it look like it is our
strapping pieces. But I won’t do that on your time.
I’m going to get ready to go ahead and put in the adjustment part. And that was with
that 90 inch piece of trim. Now there’s a special thing that I have done. I’ve measured
down again from one of my selvedges 30 inches and I’ve made a mark. Now you’re going
to need roughly 30 inches to go up and around your neck and make that adjustment so that
mark actually is going to start for us today right here, ok? So what we’re going to do
is I’m going to slide my apron into my trim, take that pin back and hold it into place.
If this slips around a half an inch or an inch or whatnot, it’s not going to be the
end of the day. But I really want to secure that because now what we’re going to do,
just to make life easy, is we’re going to sew this as into our strapping, right? By
stitching down this edge. And then I”m going to come all the way down to trim it. All the
way out that seam like I just showed you. I’m going to bring you back to show you
how to put the hardware on. I’ll be right back.
After I finished the 50 inch side on my right side, I also put in the 90 inch piece of strapping
and trim on the left side. The only difference was I left a 30 inch tail that becomes my
adjustable neck piece. And then I put it in just like I did. And we finished out both
sides so we can teach you how to now put on the adjustable hardware. So what we’re going
to do is we’re going to eventually sew this little tail to this center piece. But what
I want to do is I want to go ahead and weave it up and over and down. Of course you want
to make sure your strapping doesn’t have any twists in it. Then this is going to go
through the rectangle, back over. And all I’m going to have to do is stitch this to
the center ring. But what I found was a trip is I would pull out that excess. You probably
can’t see and I know the black on black is tough. But I really like the black apron.
So I promise next time to use lighter fabrics. I don’t think about it until I’m sitting
here looking at it on the camera and I can’t see it real well either. I know, I apologize.
We’re going to go ahead and just stitch right across there. I know it looks like a
mess. I’ll show you here in a second. And then I’ll talk you through our pockets.
And we are all set with our awesome apron for the day. So I”m just going to do one
set of stitching here and back. And then this will all lay nice for us in here. I’m going
to pull this down tight. And now we have our wonderful adjustable hardware just like that.
So that you can make it whatever size neck that you need, ok?
And then also on those pattern pages, I have some really cool front pockets. And I’ve
got my chest pocket. The chest pocket is a simple rectangle. That’s included in the
pattern. The way I handled it, I made a mark. It’s about seven inches down from the top,
ok? And this is how I handled this. I took my rectangle as you see it. And then I folded
in the sides, double fold so that I have no raw edges. Folded down the top. Double fold
so I have no raw edges. Made a beautiful rectangle. And the trick for this was so I had a little
bit of loft, I took the rectangular pocket and I set it so that it would be actually
right sides together and I pointed it downward. I stitched across where that chalk line was
going to be. Then I was able to fold it up and topstitch the edges very simply.
The hand and side pockets we have for you are a little bit different. They’re a fun
shape and they were cut from some of that leftover. And I did, I finished the edges
as well before I topstitched them down to the apron. And I put them where they fit on
my body. The only thing that was a little tricky was when I was coming around this arc
and double folding it. I just basically what I did was used my fingers and I folded and
folded starting on that square edge. And as I began stitching I just kept twisting the
fabric, twisting the fabric, rolling it over to finish out that edge as well. And it finished
out very nicely. And then I was able to position them right on my hip so I could comfortably
keep, and they’re nice and big, so I could keep like my cell phone or keys or whatever
I needed while I’m working in there in my workshop in my awesome new apron. And of course
this rectangular pocket is a great place for you to do your embellishing and enjoy the
benefits of your embroidery machine if you have one. So that is our awesome workshop
apron. Now you’ve got one. You can go out into your shop. Get dirty while I’m making
great new projects here at Man Sewing.