Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Anthro Apron turned DRESS tutorial ;D

As an American-born Chinese, I'd like to celebrate my heritage by saying Happy Chinese New Year! My grandpa is visiting from China for the new year and I am loooving it. Nothing taste better than grandpa's cooking and I am totally getting fat off of all these homemade meals ;) 
Anyhow I'd like to start the new year off by posting my first tutorial! I've been eyeing this apron at Anthro for the longest time; I just love the colors and the ruffles. It's the perfect apron if I were to host a tea party! Hehehe.. and I was staring at it on the computer wishing I was a millionaire and suddenly a light bulb went on in my head; "hey I can totally make my own and save about $30!" And THEN another light bulb went on in my head; "HEY how about I make it even cuter and make it into a dress!" (should've bought a lottery ticket that day huh)


So  here it is.. The Tea and Crumpets Apron turned Dress :D
Supplies:
Sewing machine
Scissors
About half yard of white fabric, one yard of light pastel green fabric (or whatever color you choose; the yellow color is uber cute too) and half yard dark grey
Tank top that you don't mind sewing on
One yard of 3/4 in elastic

Just a note of caution; I am a lazy sew-er (?) When I sew I don't use patterns. I typically just eyeball about the size I want and add about 1/2 inch for the sewing and turning. I also don't iron like I'm supposed to. I just kind of fold it and feed it along the sewing machine. Haha.. as long as it still comes out okay!

Directions:
Cut three strips of white about 3 inches wide and twice as long as your tank top.


Hem both sides of the strips. Take one end of each strip and hem that too.


Sewing a running stitch along the middle. (For running stitch; switch your machine to the longest stitch. For mine; it's a 4)  Take the thread at the beginning and pull to ruffle the fabric.


Line up the ruffles on the tank top. Pin in place and sew down the middle.

Voila! You have a cute tank top now. You can stop here.. OR con't on for the skirt part :)

Cut one rectangular piece of white fabric and one same piece from the light green wide enough to wrap around your waist + two or three inches and as long as you want your skirt. ( I went for above the knee and I wanted a high waistline) You can hem the bottom of the skirt now to your desired length. Fold the white fabric piece in half and sew up the two sides. Do the same for the green fabric. 


Place the white skirt, with the front of hemline facing out, outside the green skirt. Make sure the green skirt's front hemline is also facing out. Sew the top of the skirts together. Flip the white skirt so that it is underneath the green skirt. Top stitch them together. 

About an inch and a half away from the top, sew another line. This will be where you put your elastic. 

On the inside of the skirt; cut a small opening between the two stitching lines. Be careful not to cut the stitches! 

Take the elastic and measure it to your waistline; subtract an inch. Attach it to a safety pin; and pull the elastic through the waistband. Take the the two ends and sew together and voila! A skirt. :)

Here you can take the top and the skirt and sew them together to make a dress. I chose not to. I liked that I can mix and match the skirt and top with other things :) Anyhow, on to the belt!

Cut two long strips of fabric from the green; about 4 inches wide and long enough to wrap around you twice. Cut two long strips of fabric from the dark grey; about 2 inches wide and as long as the green fabric. (Here is where I had to pull out the iron.. dangit :) ) Fold the two grey strips in half and iron down.

Place the grey strip in between the two green strips; make sure the fold edge is inside. Sew one side together. Do the same for the other side.

Turn inside out; hem both edges and you have your matching belt. 

Here it is in all it's glory! 
Not exactly it.. but close enough :) Total cost $8.00 
I'm ready for tea now; who wants to come with me to the Huntington Library?! :D

I was debating back and forth as to whether to add the ruffled white edge on the bottom and the pocket like the apron has. But I figured it would look too much like an apron and kept it simple. Enjoy! And sorry if I'm not thorough enough. If you have any questions feel free to email me :)

And even though I don't cook; I couldn't help but make the Tea and Crumpets Apron itself.. since I still had leftover fabric and all :) So watch for another tutorial post on the apron! ;)

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