Little boy apron

As you may recall from this post, I wanted to make Emmett an apron because the last time Annika and I put on our aprons to do some baking, he went completely nuts.  This little boy must do, must have, must be exactly like his big sister.  It's quite cute, especially since I know that it won't last.  So, in order to appease my poor boy, I pinned a tea towel around his waist, and told myself that I needed to make him an apron.  And I did it!!  Here it is...

I wanted something "masculine" for him, and I think this fits the bill!  Originally I had wanted to find a print fabric with tools on it (hammers, screwdrivers, etc) because I want this to also be his "daddy's helper" apron, but I wasn't able to find anything like that (the lady at Fabricland told me "we used to have Bob the Builder, but it's sold out now.  We have cars though."  Ummmm, thanks, that's very helpful and not what I was looking for at all :P).  So I went with stripes, because I love stripes. ;)  I used this pattern to cut the body of the apron (it's size 3-5, so it's big now but it will fit for a while!), and then used an old apron of my mom's as inspiration for the rest.  I really like the contrast of the bias tape around the edges, and the pockets across the bottom (it's hard to see, but the bottom panel is sewn into 3 pockets) remind me of a carpenter's apron.  I got the idea of adding an applique of his initial from my cousin, who told me that her son has a monogrammed apron.

Here's a few more pics of some of the details.

I reinforced the corners by the straps so it would be sturdy enough for a little boy!

Like I said, sort of hard to see, but I stitched the bottom section into 3 pockets, perfect for storing all sorts of little treasures.

For the neck and waist straps, I just continued the bias tape, sewed it closed along the length and then sewed it over at the ends.

The applique of his initial.  Up close you can see my applique-ing technique needs some improvement, but from a distance it looks pretty good.

The apron in action (we weren't baking anything at the time, so he's wearing it while "cleaning")...

At first he really didn't want to wear it (he screamed bloody murder when I put it on him), so Annika and I put on our aprons, and then he was okay with wearing his. :P  I'm really happy with how it turned out, especially since this was my first time doing a project without a specific set of instructions (just a little inspiration for here and there and a picture in my head). 

Now on to other crafty endeavors...  a box full of little wooden peg people arrived on my doorstep yesterday.  Perfect timing!