Lots of Pockets Apron Tutorial -- Part 1

Hi Everyone!

Today's special. It's my first tutorial! DH and I just got home from California, where we were visiting family for a bit (boy are people happy to see you when you live a few states away), and inspiration hit.

Let me preface this by making a small confession. I love chickens. Like, really love chickens. I have a coop planned and everything. Well, DH's aunt has chickens. So when we visited them, I helped collect eggs. And I couldn't help but notice that they didn't even use a basket to collect them. Just hands. That makes closing up the coop doors behind you once your hands are full of eggs super difficult! Since I've been looking for projects to drastically reduce the crazy amounts of fabric I have in my stash, I came up with the idea of an egg-collecting apron in lots of colorful prints and with nice pockets for eggs. They don't have a lot of chickens and they collect eggs twice a day, so they didn't really need space for more than 3-4 eggs, but I figured I'd give them as many as I could. The final product:

Lots of Pockets Apron using rainbow quilting cottons collected over the years

Now, first things first. Yes, I had to split this post into 3 parts. It's going to be very picture heavy, because I find it's easiest to explain things by showing, so I've divided it into: Supplies & Cutting, Front of Apron, and Back of Apron & Straps. Also, I didn't really measure out the fabrics I used before I started cutting, but I don't think I used more than a half yard of the main fabric (cream), and a quarter yard each for the colors. I could be wrong, but this is a good stash-busting project, so use whatever you have on hand, it'll look ecclectic and cool.

Supplies:

Paper to make pattern

Main fabric (for the front of the apron)

Accent fabrics (all the colorful bits for the front and back)

1/4" Elastic

Scissors

Pen for marking

Rotary Cutter and Mat (really help, but not necessary)

Ruler

Thread (I used white, to stand out on all those colors)

Sewing Machine (this is a long project, I wouldn't want to do it by hand)

See all those baggies? All full of scraps and unused quilting cottons. And yes, a little OCD.

 Now, the pattern I came up with myself. It involved lots of math (which I hate), so as a favor, please do not sell this pattern as your own. You're more than welcome to make the apron for yourself, family or friends. But no selling it on Etsy.

Also, I'm not tech-saavy enough to make a PDF version of it, so you'll have to follow my written instructions on how to draft it (see? those pictures are pretty helpful now, right?). Hint: Use butcher paper or two pieces of paper taped together for the longer pieces.

All the pattern pieces you need for this apron pattern

First, draw the center length of the Back piece (the biggest one). Mine is 16". Then center a 3" line at the top (it should look like a "T" now). Measure up from the bottom 2" and draw a horizontal line that's a 2 1/2" on each side (5" long total). Now you'll add the sides, by connecting the outermost points with a ruler (I have an extra long quilting ruler I used for this). Now for the inside markings. From the bottom right edge, measure up 3". Repeat on center line and left side. Connect these points with a ruler. Add another set of lines that are 1/2" below this one. You need to add the seam allowance between these two sets of lines, so just measure down 1/4" from the upper line. Add a 1/4" seam allowance to the rest of the sides around the pattern as well. That's was the hard part, congratulations! PS, on the pattern below I forgot to add the seam allowance for the middle lines, but trust me, you need them. Now cut 6 pieces for the back of the apron using this pattern (I pieced together a bunch of scraps).

Please ignore the grease marks on the paper... BLTs are not good foods to eat in the middle of pattern-making O:)

 For the main front pieces, you can use the back piece pattern you just made to trace the top portion. You need everything from the top to the bottom-most middle line (the line you made as a "seam allowance" becomes the actual line and the line below it is the seam allowance). You do not need to draw in the topmost line from the middle (I just cut this one from my first draft of the back piece). A window and some tape also make a great lightbox, by the way. Cut 6 pieces of your main fabric for the apron front (mine's a sturdy cream linen-type fabric).

A light apron will show dirt more quickly... but it lets some of the color from the back faintly peek through!

To make the bottom chevron pattern piece, trace the bottom of the back piece pattern from the very bottom to the uppermost middle line. Once again, the "seam allowance" line in the middle becomes the actual line and the line above it becomes the seam allowance. Cut 6 accent fabric pieces (since I'm going with a rainbow pattern from light to dark on the back, I cut the 6 darkest variants of the colors).

If you can cut these on the bias, do. If not, no problem.

 For the strap at the top, I wanted to have interchanging colors, so I measured them out according to the width at the top of the apron pieces. If you want one solid color, forgo this step and just cut a strip that's 2 1/2" wide by however long you want the strap. Bias binding works great here, too. To make this pattern piece, though, make a rectangle that measures 2" x 3". Then add a 1/4" seam allowance around each side. Done! Cut 24 total pieces from this pattern. You could add more for a longer strap, but make sure to do so evenly.

I cut 4 of each color to reach 24 pieces

 For the pocket pattern (big enough to fit 1 large egg... I tested), draw a vertical line that measures 5". Measure up 2" from the bottom and draw a horizontal line that's about 5" long. Connect the bottom of the vertical line with the ends of this horizontal line to make the bottom point. At the top of the vertical line, draw a horizontal line that's 5" wide (2 1/2" on each side of the line). This is where the pocket got a little tricky for me. Measure 3/4" down from the horizontal line in the middle-ish of the pocket and make another horizontal line (mine was dotted when I drafted it).Where this line connects to the angled sides is where the bottom corners of the pocket will be. Draw a line from that point on the right to the end of the topmost line on the right. Repeat for other side. Add a 1/4" seam allowance on each side and top of the pocket pattern. Phew, good job! Cut 6 pieces from your accent fabrics.

Cutting these pattern pieces on the bias makes the pockets easier to sew later.

Lastly, cut 6 pieces of 1/4" elastic into 3 3/4" lengths.

Color of the elastic doesn't matter. But black elastic may show through lighter fabrics (hint, hint).

 And that's it for the pattern-making and cutting! Congratulations for deciphering my math skills, I promise everything will be much more clear from here on out. On to Part 2!

Happy Sewing,
Lea