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Fancy, flirty aprons are all the rage, and they sell for good money at a lot of stores. But if you can sew, you can make your own, and I’ll show you how. Seem a little too frilly? Use it any old time, but especially when you have guests. People get a kick out of them! And don’t be afraid to use it; it’s just fabric, and you can wash it. This pattern is for a fully reversible, gathered, scalloped apron with pockets. Have fun with the fabrics and mix them up to make it more interesting. This apron uses the same fabrics on both sides, but in opposite placement.
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Supplies
(Click fabrics for direct links for purchase at Warehouse Fabrics Inc.)
 Madison black/candy pink: MANBLK |
 Dottie black/white: DOEBLE |
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| Main fabric and lining fabric, 1-1/2 yards each. |
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The pattern
| I have provided the pattern pieces in a manner that allows you to print from home on regular computer paper. Due to the large size of the skirt of this apron, the pattern requires 15 pages. You’ll see a border around each page; you can either fold or trim, but you’ll see that the pattern pieces are marked where you should tape them together. You’ll tape from the border, and not from the edge of the paper. I have used letters and lines to show which pieces line up where. Make sure you print at full size. The border allows you some space in case your printer tries to cut a bit off. |
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The process
 Pockets |
Start with the pockets. You’ll place the pieces right-sides together and sew all the way around except for a hole for turning. Use a 3/8″ seam allowance. Normally, I try to leave the turning hole on the bottom of an item, but due to the curves on these pieces, I chose the straight-edged top instead.
Clip the curves by snipping the seam allowance up close to the stitching, but don’t cut through the stitching. |
 Pockets, turned |
Turn the pockets right side out through the hole and press. Then top stitch 1/4″ from the top edge. This adds a nice visual touch and simultaneously closes up that turning hole. |
 Apply pockets, part I |
Apply the pockets to the skirt pieces. I chose to match the pockets to the waist band I’d be using for each side. On this apron, it can be a bit tricky because it hasn’t been gathered yet and it’s hard to tell just how the skirt will fall when finished. I got it right on one pocket, and in the end my other pocket was at a bit of an angle. I totally fudged this in the photos with my pose so you couldn’t tell. But, heck, I just told you anyway.
See the pocket to the left? In hindsight, I would have tilted it just a little bit to the right on the bottom. |
 Apply pockets, part II |
Pin your pockets in place and sew around the sides and bottom, close to the edge. |
 Line up skirt pieces |
Place the skirt pieces right sides together and pin around sides and bottom. Line up all the scallops. |
 Clip scallops |
After sewing (1/2″ seam allowance) all the way around the sides and bottom, clip each scallop to just below the stitches and trim some of the bulk away. |
 Turn right-side out |
Turn and press. With the scallops, this will take a little time. |
 Top stitch |
Top stitch along the sides and bottom. |
 Gathering stitches |
The top of your apron is still open. Now you need to make some gathering stitches. Set your machine on the longest stitch and sew two parallel lines (aim to get them within the 1/2″ seam allowance) near the raw edge. With this heavy fabric, I recommend two sets of stitches running from the center to either edge (my thread broke and I had to redo my gathering stitches; it seems to take some of the pressure off this way). It’s thick and much heavier than your thread, so when you start to pull, be very gentle so you don’t break the thread.
We’ll get to the gathering in a minute.
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 Sew waist band |
But first we need our waist band. Take your waistband pieces, right-sides together, and stitch along one long side. Flip around and press.
NOTE: I hadn’t made one of these in a while, and I made the mistake of top stitching at this point. I shouldn’t have. That comes later, so you may see some top stitching in the next few photos, but don’t do it until I tell you to. I had to remove some stitches to finish the next few steps. |
 Mark seam allowance |
(again, ignore the top stitching along the top of the band. Oh, and the horribly blurry picture. Sorry)
On either end of your waist band, it is helpful to mark off the 1/2″ seam allowance with some sort of fabric pen or pencil. |
 Gather |
Now you’ll gather your skirt a bit. You won’t have to gather too much, but try to evenly distribute the stitches. Your goal is to have it be the exact length of the waist band WITHIN the seam allowances you just marked. The skirt should stop 1/2″ from either end. |
 Pin waist band on |
Open up your waist band and pin one raw edge to the raw edge of your skirt, right-sides together. In this case, I wanted the polka-dot band with the pink fabric, so that is what I pinned together. The other side of the band just hangs there. |
 Press seam open |
Sew and press band away from skirt of apron. Set aside. |
 Ties |
It’s time to make the ties. Place your tie pieces right-sides together and sew a 1/2″ seam around the whole thing, except the small, straight end. |
 Turn and press |
Turn the tie through the end and press it smooth. |
 Finished ties |
Top stitch the ties. I think it looks nicer this way, but also, when you wash the apron, everything will stay in place much better. |
 Press seam allowance under |
Press under the seam allowance 1/2″ on the loose end of the waist band. |
 Attach tie |
This one is hard to see, so I labeled it. I have turned it so the right sides of the band are facing up. At top, you see the side of the waist band that is not yet sewn down. Below that in the photo is the polka dot band, but it is covered by the tie. The polka dot side of the tie is face-to-face with the polka dot waist band. The raw edges of the tie and waist band are lined up. |
 Fold band over |
Now I’ve flipped over the loose part of the waist band. Essentially, I’ve made a sandwich:
pink waist band Now sew a 1/2″ seam allowance on that raw edge. This is easy to do since you made sure the skirt of the apron stopped 1/2 inch from the end. |
 Turn right-side out |
Flip the band around right-side out, and this is what you’ll see. (Repeat with other tie.)
Now is when you should top stitch the top of the waist band. Your ties are already top stitched, so just continue that along the top of the waist band. Now, the only unfinished part of your apron is one side of the waist band. |
 Slip stitch closed |
You’ve already pressed your seam allowance, so everything should sort of fall into place here. Pin your waistband to the skirt and slip stitch closed by hand.
Now your apron is beautiful from either side, and it’s like having two aprons in one! |
Other views
 Front, side I |
 Side, side I |
 Back, side I |
 Side II |
Tags: Accessories, apron, reversible apron, scalloped apron, sewing, sewing tutorial
Hi, I love that cool fabric. Could you post where you got it? It seems like it would be cool cut on the curved lines so the bottom followed the pattern of the fabric too. that’s what I’d like to try. Thanks for any info, Kitty
Kitty,
The fabric is from this site, Warehouse Fabrics Inc. If you click on the icons for the supplies at the top, it will take you to the pages for those fabrics.
Lining up the fabric was sort of tricky, unless you were to make the scallops specifically for this particular fabric, which I didn’t. You could certainly try it! Good luck!