Sew What?: Colorful Aprons

The first, and most important step, for sewing anything: have fun!

Now that you want to sew and have fun, find a simple pattern to start with 

A lot of sewing patterns are marked with a difficulty level (some are even labeled "Sew Easy!")

Check the back of the pattern for what you'll need for the project and gather your supplies!

Tanya's fabrics:

Jessica's fabrics:

Trying to look the part of wise sewing advisor:

When you open the pattern, find the pieces you'll need for you're particular project

If you're not sure how to lay out your fabric, the pattern instructions usually have several layout
options to help you get started
I usually lay all the pieces out and move them around a couple of times before pinning
Once you have everything laid out, pin your pattern pieces to the fabric along the edges

And, then, get to cutting!

Before you unpin the pattern from the cutout fabric, make sure you clip the fabric at all the 

triangle marks, and make a mark at all of the dots

For marking dots, you can use a fabric pencil, a pin, or, my personal favorite, a "bonker" (pictured below)

Apparently, this tool is actually called a pattern marker but I've been calling it a "bonker" my whole life

It can be tempting to skip this step, but the marks come in handy later for lining things up, especially if you don't cut very straight lines (like me)

Once you have everything cut and marked, unpin the pattern pieces

Every pattern comes with instructions that you can follow along with, they are usually relatively easy to understand, or you can get together with your friends and share answers and have a sewing factory like we did!

It's pretty easy, once you get the hang of it!  

Here, Tanya is finishing the edges of her pockets before sewing them to the front of the apron:

Jess is demonstrating how to use this nifty tool we found for turning straps!

If you don't have a nifty tool, use a wooden chopstick or something similar

Checking Jess' work, she had to make hers a little shorter than the pattern...

Showing off the finished product!

And, voila!

At the end of the day, you have a finished apron that you can be proud of and show off to your friends and family while pouring them a cup of tea in their favorite pink elephant mug, just like Jess

**special thanks to Erin Cave for the use of her sewing machine!**