Make A Colonial Apron - Claude Moore Colonial Farm

Supplies:
Towel Old dish towel or a rectangular piece of cloth. Our cotton dish towel is 16 inches wide by 24 inches long. The linen fabric for our example is 39 inches wide by 27 inches long. Functional aprons should be should be made of cotton or linen -- white, natural, solid color, checked, plaid, or vertically striped. Fashionable aprons would be of finer material, embroidered, or perhaps have a print floral pattern. An embroidered towel would be wonderful if the girl is portraying a wealthy colonial lady. Scissors Ribbon Ribbon or twill tape enough to go around the girl's waist with her clothes on and make a bow. The apron string on our example is 1 ½ yards of 3/4 inch tape. Paper clip, safety pin, or large-eyed needle. Fabric glue, fusible web, a sewing machine, or a needle and thread.
Background: This is a pattern for the kind of apron that would have been worn by a woman or a child. Men also wore aprons to protect their clothing when they were working. Most aprons in the 18th Century were practical while some were intended to be simply fashionable. Practical aprons were made of washable fabric, gathered on a narrow tape, and tied around the waist. Fashionable aprons were decorative, and were not intended to get really dirty. They might be embroidered or edged with lace. The apron is shorter and narrower than the petticoat, and not too full. The gathered apron should be at least as wide as the girl's breadth and the hem should extend to below the knee. Sometimes an apron would have a bib which pinned to the bodice. This was called a pinner. In the 18th Century people did not usually have as many clothes as they do now, and they valued their clothes more. An apron kept their clothes from becoming stained and wearing out.
Directions: 1. If desired, hem the bottom and sides of the apron. The edges can be sewn or glued. It is not necessary to hem selvedges. 2. At the top, waistline edge of the apron make a casing about 3/4 inch wide. To do this, fold over about 1/4 inch of fabric, then fold over 3/4 inch of fabric and sew or glue down the folded edge to the body of the apron. 3. Attach the tape, string, or ribbon to the safety pin or paper clip, or thread it through the needle. Work the tape through the casing. 4. Gather the apron to fit, and tie it on with a bow. An authentic looking 18th Century style apron is also made this way. However, it must be all hand stitched, not glued or machine stitched.

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