Back in early 2009, I purchased this lino-printed fabric from the Babbarra Women’s Centre at the Australasian Quilt Convention (read more here). My plan was to make a dress but the directional, blocky fabric design did not lend itself to being cut up and moved about. And so the precious fabric has been waiting patiently in my stash for over 11 years.
Then I saw the cross-over apron from Tessuti Fabrics that is essentially a single piece of fabric plus some wide straps and a pocket. Perfect!
The Tessuti Apron Pattern is available as a free download to print out at home but I opted to pay for the hard copy version so that I could get straight into cutting and sewing. (I transferred the pattern onto freezer paper that I iron onto the fabric which is easy to cut around.)
Mask-making aside, it’s been a while since I have done any kind of technical sewing. Fortunately the instructions are very clear and the construction is quite straightforward, although I did find the hemming in the curved underarm section needed a little coaxing. Here is the final result.
The pattern is one-size only but would be easy to tweak if required. (If you are smaller than me, I would narrow the bib section a bit so that the straps do not slip off the shoulders.)
I am ready to make more. Maybe you have the perfect fabric is your stash too. The pattern recommends medium-weight linen, cotton and denim and calls for the following meterage*:
- 112cm wide: 1.45 metres
- 140cm wide: 1.1 metres
Check out the #tessutiapron tag on Instagram for other variations.
*Your mileage may vary but I reckon you could squeeze it out of a metre of 140cm wide fabric.
Shannon M Conley says
Your apron turned out great- fantastic use for the fabric; i love finding things to do with beloved prints to show them off. I also like the criss cross back of that apron (rather than ties). I might have to look out the pattern.