There are lots of how-to's around for sewing aprons, all of which are great, I never knew how popular aprons were until I needed to make one. Leaving things to the last minute as usual, I realised creating a beautiful master-piece was not affordable, practical or appropriate for something about to go to a festival kitchen.

So this apron has a few different features:
1. It uses an old t-shirt and a shoe lace
2. It is very quick and easy and requires no pattern (this took me a few hours to knock up).
3. The results are functional* and fun rather than neat and tidy!

* Although, highly ironically I was not allowed to wear this particular apron for said festival due to a mis-understanding of environmental health rules -one must have a 'bibbed' apron, apparently. I'll be working on an extension soon...

Step 1: Select Your Materials

You will need:

T-shirt : hold it up against you to make a rough guesstimate for sizing. I chose a large mens-sized, air-tex cotton one to give me plenty of material of an appropriate weight and washability.

Scraps of material for a pocket and/or decoration

Shoe lace - for the ties, you could substitute with ribbon, cord, anything really

Thread

Scissors (dress makers/ fabric scissors will save A LOT of frustration and time)

Pins and pin cushion

Sewing machine (or lots of time and patience for hand sewing)

Tape measure

An iron (not strictly necessary but helps with neat edges)

Some taylors chalk might also come in handy as an optional extra

Step 2: Create a Large Tea-towel!

As we are going for a simple, 'cafe style' apron, you are basically looking to create a rectangular shape. When all the edges are nicely hemmed, this becomes like a large tea-towel really!

So, as the photos detail, the procedure is cut, iron, pin, sew for each edge in turn *.

*One marginal time-saving tip: depending on the t-shirt, you might be able to save some sewing by utilising an existing neat edge on the bottom of the shirt.

Step 3: Engage the Tying Devises

So the only thing stopping our tea towel from fulfilling its aprony potential is a shoe lace, basically.

You could go for one shoe lace each side if you want long ties, or slice one in half as I have here.

Then it is a matter of doing your best to prevent fraying fabric and making a secure join to the tea towel...

Step 4: Decorate at Will

So now we have a basic apron :) Time for a trying on.

In my cafe working days, I found pockets to be really useful and wanted to add some summer festival spirit to an otherwise bright but plain apron. A scrap of old sheet and a snip round some old 70s flower power material did the job nicely.

For a pocket, basically repeat the tea towelling process of cut, iron, pin, sew. If you want to add a decoration - sew this on BEFORE the pocket is sewn onto the apron - otherwise it will get very tricky.

Step 5: Get Baking!

When you are happy with your creation, tie yourself in and bake away with extra messy abandon - safe in the knowledge your apron is there to save the day!