This craft was inspired by a quick Dollar Store craft I pinned last July:
I knew right away I'd adapt this for St. Patrick's Day. So I picked up kitchen towels in the right colors at the Dollar Store, and 3 yards of sparkly shamrock ribbon for $2 at Michael's.
Unfortunately, the only towels in the right shade of green also had stripes, and I wasn't going to just settle. So I "sewed out" the stripes like this:
But you'll have way more luck than I did, right? Once you've got the towels all set, you have two choices. Horizontal half apron:
Or vertical full apron:
The trickiest part of this wasn't sewing out the stripes—it was matching the sizes of the cloths. I wanted them to be about the same width and height--but all three kitchen cloths were different widths, and all three had different motifs on them. Fortunately, other than the stripes, these decorations were near the edge, so I was able to cut them off when I made them the right width (and hemmed them. I hate hemming).
The orange cloth was the largest, so after I cut off the colorful stripes, I ended up turning it sideways and folding it in half, making it into pockets for my apron. The biggest pieces of the left over cloths I hemmed to make into rags to keep in those pockets.
A couple more apron tips:
- Remember that the top of an apron is narrower than the waist and bottom or it gapes when you tie it behind your neck. I fixed this with some vertical darts from the top to the bust points.
- Sew on the neck strap(s) first and try it on to determine the best place for the waist ties. (It's also a good idea to try it on when pinning the darts in place, too.)
- And be careful when sewing over the hems:
But there was more waywardness for this craft. It came in a . . . well, a stupid way. I keep my sewing stash in two big drawers that are within my kids' reach--two locking drawers. This works great . . . until you lose the key. So also for this craft, I picked a real lock for the first time. Hairpins--not just for hair.
How will you celebrate St. Patrick's Day?
