Brought to you by sewingideas.

com

Gathered Apron & Pot Holder

Shopping List:
For Apron: 5/8 yard (or approximately 22") of 45" wide fashion fabric 2 yards of 1"-2" wide grosgrain ribbon All-purpose thread in coordinating color Ruffler attachment for sewing machine (Optional) Pins Scissors For Optional Pocket: 9" x 9" fabric square for pocket 9" x 9" square of fusible tear-away stabilizer 5" x 5" square of light to medium weight tear-away stabilizer 30 wt. rayon, polyester or cotton thread for embroidery Bobbin thread Pocket pattern (supplied with these instructions) For Pot Holder: 1 piece of quilt batting, cut 7" x 7" 2 cotton fabrics, each cut 7" x 7" All purpose thread in coordinating color 1 yard of purchased single-fold bias binding in coordinating color

Note: In our sample, we made our own binding starting with an extra strip of apron fabric approximately 3" wide, and a bias tape making accessory, available at major fabric stores. Making the binding on-grain will require at most about 3" x 36" of extra apron fabric. Making it on the bias will require about yard extra fabric and you will need to first make a continuous bias strip. Just follow the manufacturers directions that come with the accessory.

Gathered Apron & Pot Holder Sewing Instructions:

Sewing Directions for Apron

Apron Bottom Hem and Side Hems 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Trim away the selvage edges from both short sides of the fabric. To create the bottom hem of the apron, on one long edge, turn the fabric 1" toward the wrong side and press. Turn the fabric again another 1", enclosing the raw edge, then press. Pin the entire hem in place. With the sewing machine set for straight stitch, sew along the top edge of the hem. On both short sides of the apron, turn the fabric to the wrong side about " and press. Turn it another " and press again. Pin these side hems in place. Using a straight stitch on the sewing machine, sew down each side.

Gathering the Top Edge of Apron 1. 2. 3. Place the Ruffler on the sewing machine, following the manufacturers instructions. Using a scrap of fabric, test the Ruffler, setting it to make a "tuck" every 6th stitch. Adjust the depth to about medium. The ruffler should be set up so that the finished apron fabric, after ruffling the entire top edge, will measure approximately 18" across. Place the apron fabric in the Ruffler and gather the top edge all the way across, about " away from the raw edge of the fabric. Note: If you dont have a Ruffler, you can gather your fabric manually. Set the machine for straight stitch with a long stitch length (about 4mm), then turn the needle tension down to a low setting. Sew 2 parallel rows of stitching along the top edge of the fabric one row at " and one row at " seam allowance. Because the needle tension was reduced, you can now pull the bobbin threads to gather the fabric yourself! Pull from both sides of apron and adjust the fullness evenly across. Making the Apron Waistband 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Fold the grosgrain ribbon in half to find the center point, then open it back up and fold it lengthwise. Press it about 10" on each side of center. Find the center point of the ruffled apron top and mark it with a pin. Place the center of the apron fabric inside the folded & pressed ribbon. The ribbon should encase the raw edge of the gathered fabric. Pin the ribbon in place across the entire top edge of the apron, making sure that you have the same amount of ribbon on the both the front and back side of the gathered fabric. Stitch the ribbon in place, making sure that you catch both front and back edges of the ribbon as you sew. Press when finished. Clip the ribbon tail ends at an angle so they dont unravel.

Pockets Embroidering the Pocket 1. 2. 3. Prepare for embroidery by applying the fusible stabilizer to the back side of the pocket fabric, following the stabilizer manufacturers recommendations. Fill the bobbin with bobbin thread. At the computer, open the Futura software. From the Main Menu, select Create, then scroll down to Hyperfont. (Hyperfont is an optional software program, available from SINGER retailers). Click Next to continue. Type the desired monogram letter in the Text Box, then click on Select to choose the font. (For this project, French Script Bold was used). After choosing the font, click OK. Click Next, and then click on Fill Stitch. Click Finish.

4. 5.

For more information please visit: www.sewingideas.com

Gathered Apron & Pot Holder Sewing Instructions: (continued)

6.

It will be necessary to increase the size of the letter. For our project, the letter was increased to 4" in height. Click and drag on the square-shaped nodes on the upper left/lower right corners of the bounding box around the letter to increase the size. Note: To check the size of the letter, go to the Main Menu and click on Tools, then scroll down to Ruler. Then, bring the mouse down and click on the top of the letter, and then drag down toward the bottom of the letter. In the display near the bottom of the screen, the Distance will be shown. Continue to size the letter and check it with the Ruler until the desired letter size has been achieved.

7. 8. 9.

Right click to bring up the pop-up menu, then left click on Stitch It. In the Main Menu, click on Design: Center Design to center your resized monogram in the hoop. Position the pocket fabric in the hoop, then secure the hoop onto the embroidery machine. Place the 5" x 5" tear-away stabilizer under the hoop (for added stability) once the hoop and fabric have been secured onto the machine. Go to File: Transmit to Futura Machine. Then click on Send Block.

10. Thread the machine with the 30wt. cotton or embroidery thread. Embroider the letter on the pocket fabric. 11. When embroidery is finished, remove the fabric from the hoop. Remove the excess tear-away stabilizer from the back of the fabric. Finishing the Pocket 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Convert the machine to standard sewing mode. Remove the embroidery foot and replace it with the standard sewing foot. Make a pocket pattern by enlarging the provided Pocket Template, so that the finished size is at least 6" x 6". Draw the pocket shape onto the fabric, using the pocket pattern. Cut out the pocket shape that was drawn onto the fabric. Turn the sides and bottom edges under about " and press. It is helpful to clip the curves at the rounded corners, so that they will form a nicer curved shape. Turn the top pocket edge down ", then turn it " again and press. Stitch the top hem across the pocket. Pin the pocket on the apron front as desired, then stitch around the sides and bottom.

Sewing Directions for Pot Holder

1. 2. 3. 4. With the SINGER Futura set up in standard sewing mode, remove the standard sewing foot and replace the embroidery foot. Lower the feed dogs on the machine. Thread the needle and the bobbin with the thread you want to use for free-motion sewing. Place the 9" x 9" batting in between the 2 layers of 9" x 9" fabric. Secure with a few pins. With the machine set for straight stitch, begin free-motion sewing to cover the entire area of the fabric sandwich. Hold the fabric with both hands, then stitch around the area in a meandering fashion. Keep a moderately fast speed on the foot control as you move the fabric, for best results. When finished stitching, raise the feed dogs. Then, remove the embroidery foot and place the standard foot back on the machine. Apply either the pre-packaged bias binding or your own binding to the outside edges of the quilt square. At one corner, create a loop. Stitch the binding in place with a straight stitch.

5. 6. 7.

For more information please visit: www.sewingideas.com