Vintage Skirt to Apron Refashion

I've kind of been on a runaway train with ze crafting lately. Part of it is the holidays and part of it is the impending arrival of bambino three. I think my subconscious is attempted to counterbalance all those months I'll be spending doing "nothing". And by nothing I mean keeping my children alive. Which is actually kind of important, if you think about it ...

I bought this cute handmade vintage skirt at a thrift store a year and a half ago (I know. It's tragic). I knew I wanted to turn it into an apron, but I didn't have the slightest idea how I was going to do it.

I really like aprons, partially because I'm super clumsy and tend to spill things all over myself (which is kind of a big deal when you only have two pairs of pants that fit) and partially because when I put one on, it makes me feel all ... housewife-y. It's kind of like dress-up for grown ups.


To start, I cut the skirt in half. (BTW, there was no way I was EVER going to fit into this as a skirt; vintage clothes are SO tiny.)



I also cut a sizeable chunk off either side, which ended up becoming the bodice (maybe 8 inches each?)

I was doing this wayyy too late at night, so please forgive the weird orange-y tint of these pictures.

Cut, cut, cut. 

I chopped about three inches off the bottom and hemmed all my raw edges.

Next, I cut my extra scrap into two triangul-ish (totally a word ... ) shapes and played around with them until I liked the look.

I ended up going with a halter with gathers at the top.

Ta-dah!

Next, I made my neck ties out of some of the scrap fabric from the bottom of the skirt. I placed each "tube" over the gathered portion on the bodice pieces and sewed it all together. It is wayyy easier than it sounds, I promise.

The other ends of the ties. Triangul-ish!

I sewed the bodice to the skirt of the apron, then added the waistband/apron ties (again made from the piece of fabric chopped off the bottom) to hide the seam.

Finally, I had the PHENOMENAL idea to add a pocket ... which I eyeballed .. .which means it's wonky. Oh well. For sewing it at 2 a.m., I'm just glad it's not inside out and backward.

Here's what it looks like on my hugely pregnant self:

And here's what it would look like on a normal person ...

Voila! Hooray for completing long overdue projects!

P.S. This apron is similar and retails for $32.99. BOOM!