How to Make a Really Cute Vintage Kitchen Towel Apron

A vintage kitchen apron harkens back to eras past.

With just some basic sewing skills, some pretty ribbon and a couple of vintage-era or vintage-designed kitchen towels, you can make a stylish, custom apron for use around the kitchen or just for decoration. In addition to being cute, this project can be a creative way to reuse your old dish towels that you no longer want to use but don't wish to throw away.

Things You'll Need

• Sewing needle
• Thread
• Ribbon
• Two dish towels
• Two 1-foot-by-.75-inch ribbons
• Two 14-by-.75-inch ribbons

Instructions

1. Choose dish towels that are either secondhand and from the 1990s or earlier, or choose towels with a design reminiscent of the past. The goal is to have an apron with the appearance of being from an earlier time. Matching towels are preferred.

2. Size the first towel by wrapping it vertically around your torso. Hem the sides of the towel so that it is the proper width for its primary wearer.

3. Unfold the first towel and spread it out vertically onto a flat service.

4. Unfold the second towel and lay it out horizontally across the lower half of the first towel. Center the towels as much as possible. This towel forms the front pocket and wraps around the wearer's hips.

5. Hem the bottom of the vertical towel to your preferred pocket depth. Allow the horizontal towel to overhang the bottom of the vertical towel by about 4 inches.

6. Sew the two towels together along all sides and stitch a vertical line up the middle of the big front pouch to form two pockets.

7. Stitch one end of each 1-foot-by-.75-inch ribbon to one of the top corners of the apron to form the neck ties.

8. Stitch one end of each 14-by-.75-inch ribbon to the back of either outside corner of the pocket.

Tips & Warnings

• Use dish towels with a colorful and full pattern to hide the stitches.

References

• Spotted Canary: Make an Apron from a Kitchen Towel