I am going to be teaching a young friend how to bake a chocolate cake. One can not bake without an apron. I knew her favorite colors were pink and purple, so I made good use of some pink fabric scraps that I had left over from making pink tablecloths.
Since I did not have a pattern, I used an adult apron as inspiration and made a smaller paper pattern. It was easy; I folded the adult apron in half, lining up the fold up with the edge of the paper. Since a child’s chest is narrower than an adult, I moved the fold of the apron off the edge of the paper by 1 inch. That cut 2 inches off the width of the finished product.
I cut the top of the bib about an inch shorter than the adult version and cut the bottom of the pattern 5 inches shorter than the bottom of the apron. I also cut the sides down by an inch on each side.
I then sewed a double hem at the bottom, turning the fabric under 1/2 inch, then turned it up 1 inch after than. I finished the hem by sewing near the edge of the last fold.
I repeated the same process at the top, but I used a 1/4 inch and 1/4 inch double hem. I then made the same narrow double hems on each straight side.
This left the curved area under the arms unhemmed. Using purple double hem binding tape that I purchased at Walmart, I left long tails to tie around the neck and waist. The middle part was used to bind the edge of the curves on the pink fabric. When I sewed the binding, I went all the way from one tie end, through the curve, and finished at the end of the other tie end, repeating on the other side.
I added pockets (one with a secret message; more on that later). Since I wanted to tie the purple and pink together, without being too girlie, I used a purchased grosgrain ribbon to trim the pocket. I turned the edge of the ribbon in at the same time I sewed the pockets down.
All that was left was to add the young chef’s name to the top of the bib, and that my friends was a wrap (or at least an apron)!
This project did not take much time to sew, nor did it cost much. I already had all the thread I needed, so all I purchased was the purple binding and the purple ribbon. I think that cost $4 total.
This makes a great gift for a young person!
Bonus Information: With a hot pink Sharpie, on the edge of the inside pocket seam, I wrote, “Happy Cooking! Kayla” as a little note of inspiration to the aspiring baker. See the photo above. No one will know it is there, but her!