Towel Aprons

So, my mother makes these towel aprons as Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, etc:

They are great.  Because seriously, I am a messy cook, and I always need something to wipe my hand on.  Most aprons are too pretty to ruin with my gunky hands.  But these aprons are made with towels, so I can throw them in the wash and use them again!  I liked my mom's pattern, but the towels and the pockets were too big for my little self.  So, I modified them.  And here is my attempt at a tutorial:

They are really easy to make, and take hardly any time at all!   First, I just laid my mom's aprons down and cut some pattern shapes based on how she did hers.  You cut off just a little bit of the top of the towel to make it fit. Here are what all the pieces look like:

Then, I stitched the top on, right sides together.  If you can't tell, I use a piece of fabric on both the front and the back of the towel,  That way, when you fold it up and topstitch, the rough edge of the towel is completely enclosed and won't shed everywhere.

I ironed and topstitched at the bottom, where it attaches to the towel, and then I folded under the rough edges at the top and topstitched those as well.

Then, on to the pockets.  I simply ironed the rough edges underneath, stitched the top edge down (about an inch from the top), and then topstitched the other three edges right onto the apron.

Now for the straps:  one package of bias tape.  That's it.  I cut it in half, and then placed it over and the remaining rough edges.  I stitched it to the apron, and then stitched the ties as well.  I love bias tape--it is so easy.  Well, if you buy it from the store, that is.  I hear you can make your own, but that is a lot of work, and a lot of ironing work at that.  I'm clumsy, and making my own bias tape is just asking for serious burns.

Here is the finished product for a guy's apron:

The nice thing is, you don't have to finish or hem the bottom, because the towel already has finished edges! But for fun, for the girl's apron, I used some lace attached to (you guessed it) bias tape (it came like this . . . and on clearance), and sewed that right on the bottom.

And here is the finished lady's version, with curved pockets:

I made these as gifts, and they were as loved as my mother's aprons, so I think I did alright.  As I was making these, I also thought about how easy it would be to make them reversible.  You could have one fabric on one side of the top part, and another on the other side.  Then you could stitch pockets on both sides and have two aprons for the price of one!  Perhaps I will try that next time....

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