While at my sister’s place a few months ago, she casually blew my mind with the awesomeness that was her peg apron. Simply constructed, it was really just a double layer half-apron; essentially a peg bag you tie around your waist for hands free peg dispensing while hanging out laundry (I know, it is the little things that excite). This got my wheels turning for how this genius could apply to pain points of those who love arts and crafting around the home.
In IDEO’s Design Thinking theory, we are encouraged to Empathise to understand the user experience, Define to analyse what needs are currently unmet, and then Ideate for how to solve. Thinking about my current DIY experience; there is a clear pain point to solve. I like to think of it as the Murphy’s Law of crafting; no matter how many pairs of scissors/packets of pins/tape measures you own, at any point in time you will never be within hand’s reach of one at the moment you need it. As someone who owns more pairs of scissors than I have rooms in my apartment, this still somehow holds true.
So the idea was decided - I would create a crafting apron, which was primarily just a big pocket that would go everywhere with me, from room to room so nothing was ever too far away (because of course it is just too awful to have to stand up from the couch to grab scissors during a crocheting x Beverly Hills 90210 marathon).
The whole apron itself is a giant pocket, so it pack all your tools and materials, even your work in progress:
While this first one I made was for myself, this is also a great gift idea for the hands-on person in your life. You can customise the pocket sizes / configurations, and what doodads you attach, to match what they will be doing while wearing this apron - whether it is sewing, knitting, painting, baking...
Read on to discover how to sew your own crafting apron!
What you’ll need:
- Two coordinating fabrics (Or you can just use the one. I used a pale blue floral from Cotton & Steel’s collaboration with Rifle Paper Co, and a brighter floral.) As we're doing to be sewing on pockets, this is also a great way to use up random scraps you have around the home rather than letting them go to waste.
- Iron-on interfacing
- Matching thread for both fabric colours
- Lobster clasps (or other accessories)
Start with a plan
Plan out what you want your apron to be on a piece of paper. Don't feel like you have to follow my measurements, these are based on what I imagined using mine for, e.g. this scissor pocket was based on the size of my fav pair of scissors.
Prep your pieces
Cut out your pieces, and iron on the interfacing. We now need to get started pressing and sewing some of these pieces:
Bringing it all together...
