Dishtowel to Child's Apron - in less than 10 minutes

A friend's birthday was coming up and I asked the girls what they wanted to give her.  Since they had just made cookies and could think of nothing else, they requested I make her an apron and get her some baking supplies.  No problem.  I made them aprons last year out of some dishtowels and ribbons and they love them.  There are several ways to do this, but here's how I do it-

You'll need:

• a dishtowel - mine was 17" x 24 1/2"
• ribbon - at least 50"
• any embellishments you want to add to the apron

 Step 1:  Pinch the towel at about 8 1/2" from the bottom.  Slide the towel up to overlap about 4".

Step 2:  Stitch the fold in place along each side of the towel.

Step 3:  Stitch down the middle of the towel to secure the fold further and also create two pockets.

Step 4:  Turn the towel over.  Fold each top corner down to line up with the top of the pockets.  Stitch down each side making sure there's a space about 1" on each side for ribbon to slide through (less or more depending on the ribbon you choose).  You can also folder under the corners of the triangles to secure them better.

Step 5:  Slide the ribbon through each casing that you have made.  Seal the ribbon edges with a lighter and tie the ends into knots.  The knots are intended to keep the ribbon from sliding out of the casings.  You can also sew down the ribbon to the apron, but I like to leave it free so it's adjustable.

Step 6:  Finish off by adding any other embellishments to the apron you can think of.  In the two aprons I made the girls I didn't even bother since they already had plenty of interest on them.

There you have it!

This one is a gift, but here's the girls in action wearing theirs…

I couldn't believe they could roll out cookies and cut them by themselves.  The baking set we got from Ikea was a hit!  The smaller roller is perfect for them.  The amount of flour all over the house was pretty ridiculous though.  One of them (hint…she thinks she's tinker bell) decided it was fairy dust and practically started a flour fight.  It was worth it though.  They were so proud of themselves and it was probably time to scrub down every surface in the kitchen anyway.  Still finding sprinkles in random places though. 

Hope everyone out there is finding time to bake and have fun with this season!