I think I’ve mentioned here before that Eli loves to cook. I have long planned to sew him his own adorable apron. There are all kinds of tutorials and free patterns online (such as here and here), and I will one day get around to doing it. I may even make my first Spoonflower purchase to get a fun fabric of Eli’s choosing for it. But enough daydreaming of future projects.
Eli helping me make play dough. He mixed for about 20 minutes using all utensils in his reach. Yep, he needed an apron… especially during this phase where everything becomes an instant “construction site”.
Right at the moment not a lot of sewing is being done by me, and Eli really needed an apron, like 6 months ago, so I grabbed an old t-shirt from the recycling pile and a pair of scissors and within about 3 minutes an apron was born.
Yea, it’s dirty. I didn’t think to take the picture before we made the play dough. Oops!
I can’t claim credit for this idea. I saw it on the cover of a magazine in Barnes and Noble while walking a fussy teething baby around the store in the Ergo. I’m sorry, but I now can’t remember which magazine it was. It’s a simple enough design. Basically this is cut out much like the No-Sew Bibs that I made a while back, except the entire length of the shirt front is used and a strip across the back is left attached to create the ties. Cut around the neck and down the front from the top, and up the sides from the bottom. Just below the the arms of the shirt leave a strip going straight across the back from one side to the other. This you will snip apart in the middle of the back to create your two ties. Since the knit fabric of a t-shirt won’t fray no sewing is needed.
An adult medium sized shirt is more than ample enough for a preschooler.
“Hey Mom, where’s my apron?”
Thanks for reading!
Karen
Folk Haven 
happykidshappymom said,
August 27, 2013 at 3:42 pm
What a great idea! Little Eli looks absolutely adorable. You should put this post on Pinterest — we all have old t-shirts that we’d be willing to donate to our kids for something like this. 🙂 This line made me smile, “where everything becomes an instant ‘construction site.'”
singlemomontherun said,
August 27, 2013 at 4:18 pm
I just put an adult small tshirt on my daughter whe.doing messy play.
Heidi @ lightlycrunchy said,
August 28, 2013 at 5:37 am
Great idea. I remember wearing my dad’s old workshirts backwards, buttoned up the back to paint in when we were kids.
LubbyGirl said,
August 28, 2013 at 7:25 am
This is a great idea – one that I’ll probably use in the future. Thanks for sharing it, and the adorable pictures.
Maysem said,
August 28, 2013 at 7:58 am
I love this idea! I’m going to share it on my FB page… and of course pinning!
Nina said,
August 29, 2013 at 7:08 am
Very clever, Karen! So glad that Eli still likes cooking. My little guy has found other interests and hasn’t joined me in the kitchen in a while!
Inder said,
August 30, 2013 at 1:04 pm
Aw, so good to see a post from you, complete with adorable photos of your kids! I admit, I tend to just let my kids get messy and then change their clothes – I don’t use baby bibs or any kind of apron or anything like that. Probably because when I have used them, my experience is that kids get stuff EVERYWHERE, and you end up having to change their outfit anyway. Incidentally, I don’t use umbrellas often because I find I get almost as wet with one as without, perhaps this is something about my personality. But this is such a clever idea for a kid apron!
faerylandmom said,
September 5, 2013 at 4:01 pm
Genius. I love the idea. I did something similar for my kids last year, only I made them new-sew capes this way. 🙂
Weekend Links | The Faery Inn said,
September 7, 2013 at 6:34 am
[…] No-Sew Child’s Apron ~Folk Haven […]
Sixtine et Victoire said,
October 28, 2013 at 8:04 pm
Oh wow – that is so brilliant! I love to cook with my daughter as well – I wouldn’t be able to bake without her now. At 2 years, she expects to be part of all the baking process and I wouldn’t have it any other way!