Dress to Apron Upcycle

 Hello Readers. I am a messy cook. There is no other way to say it. I spill, I splatter, I drip, I drop.. and I ruin my clothes. I don't want an apron so I can look like Betty Crocker, I just want to save my clothes! This apron is easy because I made it from a dress. I was halfway done before I even started.

I like to thrift shop and go to clothes swaps and they only downside is that I can't try anything on. Sometimes I make mistakes and things don't fit. This red floral dress was so pretty, it really caught my eye. I got home and realized it was way too small so I made an apron.

This was a wrap dress that couldn't quite wrap. 

I cut the top of the dress and the skirt apart. I cut approximately 1/4 inch above the waist seam.

I cut this square from the back of the dress, between the shoulders. The size was based on the size of the back panel. It was approximately 9"x 9".

 

Here are my 2 pieces. I noticed those thin strings on each end of the skirt. Those would come in handy later. 

 

I cut those strings off and saved them for the end.
 

I serged all the cut edges of the square piece and the cut edge at the waist of the skirt piece, to prevent fraying right away. (You can also use a zigzag stitch on a sewing machine for this.)

 

You can see the white stitches across the top of the skirt piece here. I gathered the skirt piece across the top so the apron front would be nice and full. 

 

I sewed all the pleats down. It was lumpy and my sewing machine didn't like it but I got it done. The stitches were not pretty but it will get hidden later so it's OK. 

 

I added some lace around 3 sides of the square. It hides the stitches around the edges and it's so pretty. The fourth side will be hidden by the waistband, so it does not need any lace. (I also added some lace around the hem of the skirt but this is optional.)

 

I needed to attach the side of the square with no lace to the skirt. So I sewed the square to the skirt piece. I just put the square on top of the gathered waistband of the skirt. I made sure it was centered in the middle of the apron.  

 

I wanted to use this ribbon at the waistband. It is long enough to tie in the back and it hides all the lumpy gathers and the all the stitching holding everything all together. I pinned it so it was even and each end of the ribbon was the same length. 

 

This ribbon covered all the gathers and gives a nice smooth waistband.

 

Remember those thin strings for the skirt that I cut off? It was time to use them. I took them to make the neck straps. I stitched them to the top two corners of the apron so they could tie behind my neck. 

 

Here is a look at the waist and neck ties from the back. 

 

My apron was done and ready to use. As I told you, I am a messy cook and I can ruin my clothes getting food together. Hopefully this will help me stay nice and neat.