Here is my finished apron made from a placemat I bought 3 years ago at JCPenny’s for 20 cents!
(see a quick variation of this apron at the bottom of this tutorial)
Gotta love a cheap, cute craft, right? And it couldn’t be easier to make! All you need is a placemat, some ribbon, a lighter, some straight pins, your sewing machine and some embellishments. (Never mind the silk flowers in this picture- I thought they would be cute and I was wrong!)
Find the center of your apron and measure about 2-3 inches on each side from the center an mark it.
Fold over your corners. When I make this again (’cause I am sure I will!) I will not make them 90 degrees like I did this one because the ribbon ties a little high on Leah’s back and not at her waist. I was thinking 90 degrees would look cuter when the stitching comes through the other side… but I used clear thread anyway so it really didn’t matter!
Stitch your flaps, leaving enough space at each end so that your ribbon will fit through it.
Tie a knot in one end of the ribbon so that it’s easier to feed through
I used my lighter to help me feed the ribbon through- it worked like a charm!
Then I made a pocket and embellished it with some ribbon and buttons.I burnt the edges of my ribbon so it doesn’t fray
Ta-Da!
So easy! So cute!
Another variation for this is to use elastic instead of ribbon for around the neck. This is how I prefer it! Just sew the elastic right onto the top of the apron and add a ribbon to tie in the back. Look at these:
I just had one long ribbon across the center that served as a cute embellishment as well as the ties for the back.
How fun!!!
About Stephanie
So I went to the dollar store today to find a placemat, ended up spending $13 and could only find an ugly placemat! I guess I should have tried PCNickels!
so easy! so cute!! so fun! LOVE it!!!
So cute. So easy!
awesome! I'll have to find a couple placemats and do this for my girls
Your turned out so cute! I finished mine too!
Sooo cute! I love the pocket and ribbon detailing! Thanks for giving me something to look forward to doing every week with the September challenge!
Really cute. I love all the things you can do with placemats.
Thank you for mentioning my lil' blog. You are just too sweet!
I Love your apron, it it so super cute! I love your price too!
I think I may have to hunt down some more place mats and make a few more of these. My little girly can never have enough aprons.