Girls Ruffled Apron Tutorial

I’m a procrastinator when it comes to sewing practical things like lunch sacks, aprons, slipcovers, and pillowcases. My house could use some spiffing up and last week I bought some really great natural linen to make new slipcovers with. We’ll see how long it takes for me to get to it!

Gigi really wanted a new handmade apron. She saw one at Anthropologie and loved it. So I promised I would make her one, instead.

I got in touch with Ribbon Retreat, a crafty ribbon and fabric shop I’ve written kids stuff for in the past, and they sent me some really cute fabric to make an apron tutorial with . Done.

When I saw this adorable Girl Crazy line from Riley Blake I knew it was perfect.

I thought a ruffled apron would be a fun way to show off the cute,coordinated fabrics in this line.

The apron in this tutorial should fit girls from about 3 to 7 years old. My little girl is five and it fits her perfectly.

To make the apron I used two fat quarters and 4 1/4 yard cuts of the coordinating fabrics. And I also used two yards of the 100 percent cotton twill ribbon in pink. I love cotton ribbons.

To make apron you will need:

2 coordinating fat quarters for the apron bib and bottom piece.

4 1/4 yard cuts (not fat quarters) of coordinating fabrics.

2 yard cotton twill ribbon

matching thread

a sewing machine

fabric marking pen or chalk

pins

 

It’s been a long time since I’ve used quilting cottons and I love the fun colorful prints here. They are so easy to sew with.

To cut the piece for the apron bib, fold a fat quarter in half and draw a 4 inch line at the top from the fold.

Measure down 8 inches and draw another line from the fold but make it 7 inches long.

Cut it out.

When you unfold it, you will have a bib piece 8 inches wide at the top and 14 inches wide at the bottom.

Cut a 14 by 14 inch square from the other fat quarter.

Serge or zig zag the raw edges, then fold them over 3/8 an inch and iron. You can miter the corners if you know how. It looks better, but you can just plain fold it too !

Stitch down the ironed edges, creating a small hem.

Overlap the bib piece on top of the top of the bottom piece of the apron about 3/8 inch. Topstitch it down. Don’t worry , you will sew the ribbon over this part.

Cut the ties from the two yards of cotton twill ribbon. Cut one full yard for the waist tie, and two 18 inch pieces for the neck ties.

For the ruffles cut four pieces of coordinating fabrics the entire width of the fabric piece and four inches long. Cut off the selvedges.

Make narrow hems on the ends of the waist ties and neck ties. Iron the bottom of the neck ties under 3/8 inch and sew to the apron bib, hiding the raw edges.

Pin the waist tie to the apron making sure the center of the waist tie is pinned to the center of the apron, so the ties will be the same length. Stitch across the top and bottom edges of the ribbon.

Serge or zig zag the edges of the ruffle strips. Then sew a basting stitch to the top edge with a 1/2 inch seam allowance. gather the ruffles. They will be very full ruffles since they are about 2.5 times wider than the apron . Use a fabric marking pen and mark 4 lines straight across the apron bottom part, starting the first line just below the ribbon. Pin the ruffles down and sticth them on the same line as the basting stitch with a normal size stitch. make sure to backstitch the seams for strength.

You can decorate the bib with a pocket like a did, sew on a cute tuxedo ruffle, or even some cute buttons. I hope you enjoy make this little apron. My little girl loves hers!