After we finished Betsy’s quilt, there were lots of thin strips of fabric left but no scraps of any real significance.  Anne made a small drawstring bag for toys out of some of them and she gave me the brilliant idea of making an apron!  So, only a couple weeks late (I blame my sick baby), here’s an apron for Dan and Betsy’s little girl to coordinate with her quilt!

Before I began piecing the strips together to make a big enough piece to cut out the pattern, I anticipated needing to augment the fabric with some solids from my stash.  But at some point, I realized that with careful cutting, I could do it only with fabric from the quilt.  So hence, the very scrappy waist and neck straps.  And aren’t those scraps so cute when they’re a bit ruffled?

I used this tutorial (PDF) (the same one that I used for Alex’s pancake apron).  This is really such a simple project and so gratifying.  It took me less than three hours, with the majority of the time being spent on piecing the scraps together in order to be able to cut out the pieces.  So if you need a quick and easy present for a child, make this one!  It’s a great design because it allows the child to be independent with putting it on and taking it off.

And for laughs, here’s my attempt at getting Ellie to model the apron.  I deleted the one in which she’s actively crying in protest!  In this one, she’s walking toward me and signing, “All done.”

Who knew wearing an apron would be such torture? 🙂