How to Sew an Apron

Learn how to sew an apron using the free vintage basket apron pattern below. Aprons are beautiful to wear and so very practical too. You can always use several. Grandma always kept a couple for everyday use, and a fancy one to wear on special occasions.

Now, thanks to the easy pattern below, you can proudly wear your own handiwork or give a unique and beautiful apron to someone special.

Grandma loved to wear her aprons around the house and out in the garden too. It's hard to imagine her not wearing one. She always kept several hanging in the pantry cleaned and pressed ready for life's little emergencies.

Grandma also kept one or two smaller aprons handy for those special times when her grandchildren asked to help out with the baking.

Learn How to Sew an Apron

United States Department of Agriculture (1944)

Designed for double duty, this simple tie-on basket apron, also known as a Harvest Apron, equipped with shoestrings in the edge casings, can be quickly transformed into a basket for carrying in such things as apples or clothes pins. It leaves both hands free for shutting a gate or opening a door.

Attractive and totally practical, this may be serviceable round-the-house or by pulling the drawstrings, you have a basket for carrying in ears of ripened corn and garden vegetables or even freshly laid hen eggs.

Here's how to sew an apron that's both attractive and practical:

Make this homemade apron of sturdy cotton — 1 yard is enough — and use strong, smooth cotton shoestrings in the edges. You'll need four 36-inch shoestrings.

Draw 1-inch squares on a 23-inch by 38-inch sheet of paper and draw the basket apron pattern on the squares as shown.

Work four eyelets — one at each of the four places indicated on the hem. Turn the hem and stitch it.

Thread two shoestrings through each side casing. For a good hand grip, let 2 or 3 inches of one string hang from top eyelet, 2 or 3 inches of the other string hang out the lower eyelet.

Cut off the opposite end of each string and bar tack it just back of the eyelet.

Pull the strings, drop the ends inside, and you have the basket pictured above. The cotton shoestrings will not slip until you grasp the edges of the apron firmly back of the eyelets and pull.

Take pride in having learned how to sew an apron! Enjoy wearing it and be prepared to receive compliments.

Source: National Agricultural Library, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Grandma's Favorite Aprons

Knowing how to sew an apron is a handy skill to have. Aprons are beautiful and practical, and you can always use several. Grandma found many uses for her aprons round-the-house, and you are bound to find many practical uses for yours too.

Aprons not only protected Grandma's clothing from flour and grease spatters, they also served as a handy potholder, a clean towel to wipe her hands, a soft cloth to dry a little one's tears, and a ready basket to carry fresh eggs from the hen house.