I make no excuses for my love of tea towels (also called dishtowels, but I’d rather clean up from a delicious afternoon tea than dry dishes…at least in my mind, I live a high tea kind of life!). And my sister-in-law is kind enough to indulge and enable my addiction with fun and fabulous towels. For my birthday, she sent a fun “Keep Calm and Bake On” tea towel, and I really, really didn’t want to relegate it to a drawer. So, instead, I turned it into an apron!
To make one from your favorite tea towel, you’ll just need the towel, 2 yards of 1” to 2” wide ribbon (you want it comfortable around your neck, but not too thick to tie easily around your waist), and some fusible (iron-on) tape or needle and thread.
First, fold back triangles at the top, from about 4” in on either side and down about 12”. The easiest way to make them equal is to fold the towel in half lengthwise, then tuck the triangles into the center.
At this point, you can cut the triangles off. I left them, because I might want to take out the stitching and just have a towel again at some point.
Next, cut a piece of ribbon 18” long, and attach an end under the top of each triangle, either sewing it or using the fusible webbing tape. Cut the remaining ribbon in half and tie a knot at one end of each piece to prevent fraying. Sew the unknotted ends to either side of the apron, just below where the triangles end on the sides. I tucked the ends under before sewing, to prevent fraying.
There you have it…a cute new apron in about 5 minutes. How much easier could that be? And, I’m pretty sure my food tastes better (and my mood is definitely better) when I’m wearing an apron I love!
Isn’t it great that aprons are back in style! This is definitely more fun than the ones I grew up with.