How To Make Aprons From Tea Towels

Tea Towel Apron: easy step by step instructions on how to make an apron out of a tea towel and ribbon for kids or adults.

Tea towel aprons or dish towel aprons are inexpensive to make and easy to sew.  A tea towel apron is perfect for a baking birthday party, or just for any baking and cooking at home.

This past weekend we celebrated our baby turning 5! She loves all things sweet so we went with a cupcake and bakery theme for the party. Weeks and weeks before the party I started hunting for cupcake fabric to make aprons for all our little guests.

I stumbled upon some cupcake tea towels. These were perfect! They weren't expensive, and already had some of the sewing done for me. I am not a great seamstress by any means, but with my Grandma's old sewing machine, and a few straight seams I managed to make ten sweet little aprons for all the party guests.  I would say that if you can sew a straight line with a sewing machine, then this easy apron should be no problem for you.  It's a great beginner sewing project.  If you're looking for quick projects that you can personalize, this is a great one.

Materials:

• tea towel
• ribbon
• ruffle
• frey stop
• pins
• sewing machine
• thread

How To Make A Tea Towel Apron

Cutting The Tea Towel Apron Shape

1. I started out cutting off the top of the kitchen towel to make the aprons short enough for little ones, and create the apron shape. If you were making this for an adult, then you don't need to trim down the top of the towel.  You want to create the classic apron shape at the top, by cutting about a 45 degree angle at each side to create the arm holes.  You want to have a straight top to the apron, which is approximately ⅓ of the towel, and the angle the sides down to the waist.  Mark your pattern with a disappearing maker and cut off the sides.

Sewing The Edges

Next use an iron and the ironing board to fold over the raw edges a ¼ inch seam allowance, and then another ¼ inch to create a nice folded edge.  Use straight pins to hold the edge of the towel in place, and sew the edges with a straight stitch using the sewing machine and white thread, or whatever matches your apron.

Tea Towel Apron Neck Straps and Back Ties

2.After the basic apron shaped was sewn, I added on a neck strap, ties for the back, and a little ruffle at the bottom.  

To make the neck strap and apron ties I used some pink polka dot ribbon.  I sewed it on to the apron and finished the ends with a little fray-stop to ensure the length of ribbon doesn't unravel.  Using a pretty ribbon for this part is a cute little apron detail.  

We also found ready made pink ruffles at the fabric store.  This made adding this detail really easy.  I just turned in the raw edges and used a top stitch to add it to the bottom seam.

For the little boys I used cream coloured twill tape for the fabric ties and didn't add the ruffles to the front.

Aprons made from Tea Towels

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Print Pin Rate

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes minutes

Author: Dannyelle Nicolle-Ramjist

Equipment

• pins
• Sewing Machine
• iron
• scissors

Materials

• tea towel
• ribbon
• ruffle
• frey stop
• thread

Instructions

• I started out cutting off the top of the kitchen towel to make the aprons short enough for little ones, and create the apron shape. If you were making this for an adult, then you don't need to trim down the top of the towel. You want to create the classic apron shape at the top, by cutting about a 45 degree angle at each side to create the arm holes. You want to have a straight top to the apron, which is approximately ⅓ of the towel, and the angle the sides down to the waist. Mark your pattern with a disappearing maker and cut off the sides.
• Next use an iron and the ironing board to fold over the raw edges a ¼ inch seam allowance, and then another ¼ inch to create a nice folded edge. Use straight pins to hold the edge of the towel in place, and sew the edges with a straight stitch using the sewing machine and white thread, or whatever matches your apron.
• After the basic apron shaped was sewn, I added on a neck strap, ties for the back, and a little ruffle at the bottom.
  To make the neck strap and apron ties I used some pink polka dot ribbon. I sewed it on to the apron and finished the ends with a little fray-stop to ensure the length of ribbon doesn't unravel. Using a pretty ribbon for this part is a cute little apron detail.
  We also found ready made pink ruffles at the fabric store. This made adding this detail really easy. I just turned in the raw edges and used a top stitch to add it to the bottom seam.
  For the little boys I used cream coloured twill tape for the fabric ties and didn't add the ruffles to the front

The Perfect Gift

I just love how our diy apron turned out, and the kids seemed to really like them too. There were three different patterns to choose from. The aprons were also part of their party favour at the end of the party.  These are a great idea for handmade gifts.  You could personalize them for any family member with a color and pattern they'd love, and add neck and waist ties in a ribbon or fabric that they'd love.

When the kids arrived for our party the aprons were hung over the backs of the chairs, ready for the little bakers to decorate their cupcakes and cookies with.

This simple sewing project was a labour of love.  It was fairly time consuming to make this many aprons. but pretty simple, and worth the effort in the end.  Making them was much cheaper than buying them, and they turned out so cute and matched our cupcake theme perfectly.  It took a little bit of planning to find the tea towels and get the matching ribbon and other supplies, but it was a lot of fun to add the creative side to the party prep.  I also loved how they played double duty as part of our party activity and then part of the take home goodie bags afterward.  It was really such a cute look when all the kids were in their matching aprons to decorate their cupcakes.  It really was a great way to made them feel like little bakers.

Our two have all the chocolate frosting washed off now, and they're ready for future baking adventures!

With a  tea towel apron this cute, life really is a party!

More Sewing Project Inspiration

You might like our Felt Cookie Play Food here.

Also check out our Bunny Treat Bag here.

You might also like our DIY Velvet Mushroom Craft here.