Tilda Circus Blog Hop, Crafty Apron Tutorial and Giveaway!

Hello!

I can finally share with you my Project using the new ever so gorgeous Tilda Circus Collection!

When Nadine from Sew and So asked for Bloggers to have a play with the new Collection, well you can’t say no….. Tilda make the ever so cute and whimsical fabric collections which I have stalked on the Internet for years and you know what, i’m embarrassed to say….. I was a ‘Tilda Virgin’ till now! Hahaha!

The Tilda Circus range is so much fun. Inspired by a trip to the circus it’s full of elephants balancing on trees while serving tea to from a teapot to a monkey, of course it’s natural! LOL! There are also dancers holding umbrellas with owls perched on their hands… it’s a Circus for Christ’s sake, It ain’t normal! Also a little girl on a swing and bright bold floral prints.

It is the perfect mix of kitsch and vintage with a touch of girly to it.

It’s fresh blue, red, turquoise and green series with flowers and motives reminiscent of the old circus life. They have a great summer feel that instantly makes you want to be outside. I really love the greens and the reds in this range. They do pop!

This fabulous collection has all your Tilda favourites in. Not only does it have the beautiful fabric, it also has buttons, new Tilda friends and clothing patterns for them and of course, a quilt pattern which are available from sewandso. So if you haven’t dabbled into Tilda well you best start now to see what the fuss is!!

I was sent this lovely fat quarter bundle which showcase’s the Green in the Collection but i must say they are gorgeous and to say I wouldn’t normally buy ‘green’ but I’m really impressed with the colour, print and quality too!

So i got my thinking cap on…..as you do! I thought just for a change from dressmaking, I’d make an accessory, a Crafty Apron!!

This will be ideal! As my job as an Activity Coordinator as i am always on the go making things with my Residents and I’m always misplacing my pens, pencils, brushes…. you name it, i lose it!! Hahahaha! So this will hopefully keep my tools at the hand ready!

I’ve seen some aprons via Pinterest but wasn’t keen on using Bias Binding as the apron ties so I’d thought I’ll give Cotton Webbing Tape a go!

So if you guys are interested in making yourself a Crafty Apron then read on! With just 10 simple Steps… “Say what?!” I hear you say! Yeah It’s just that easy!! No Pattern needed!!

Supplies:

2 Fat Quarters of your Choice

2m of Cotton Webbing Tape

Tailors Chalk

Thread and Bobbin

Scissors

Rotary cutter and Mat

Ruler to get those straight edges or go ‘freehand’ and to live dangerously!

Optional Extra – Clear Quilter’s Foot, I use mine all the time to get spot on Top Stitching!

Step 1:

A 1cm Seam Allowance is used throughout 🙂 unless stated

First of all, we’ll be making the Pockets! So grab the Fat quarter of your choosing to make the Pockets 🙂

Cut one piece 18 x 45cm and another piece 13 x 45cm

Step 2:

On the Long sides of each Pocket, turn over by 1cm to the Wrong Side and Press. Once you’ve done that for both Pockets then Top Stitch in place, I used 0.6cm/ 1/4′ Inch Seam Allowance 🙂

Step 3:

Place the shorter Pocket on top of the taller one like this;

Now to figure out where you want to Pockets to go! Me personally, i quite like a mixture of big and small Pockets so i decided to make 4 pockets (2 on each side)

I did this by marking the middle of the Apron itself and then folding the side to the middle and then marking the fold point with a pin. For ease of a straight line i used Tailor’s chalk to mark my pocket, don’t know about you guys but even after nearly 3 years of sewing i still struggle to a precise straight line hahaha!

To Stitch the Lines for the Pockets, Sew a straight line from the Bottom to the Top. For the Centre Line of Stitching, don’t worry about this now as we’ll do that nearer to the end to get a nice straight line through all 4 Layers of the Apron.

Step 4:

Now to cut you other Fat Quarter in Half Length ways.

Place one of the Half of the Fat Quarter Right Side up with the Pocket Pieces Right Side up too like this;

Then place the other half of the Fat Quarter Right Side Down on top of that, so it looks like a Sandwich!

Step 5:

Stitch through all Layers down both sides and the bottom.

Clip the bottom edges near to the stitching line and then whilst turning the Apron Right Side out, find your most pointed tool available….mine was a wooden skewer (Yeah…. I like to improvise!) and gently poke the corner out.

Step 6:

Find the centre of the Back Piece and the centre of the length of Cotton Tape so with mine its at 1m mark on the Tape for ease of reference. Pin into place to match up with the middle of the Fabric. The Fabric needs to overlap the the Cotton Tape by 1cm. I found it easier to place the Tape by marking with my Tailor’s Chalk where 1cm fell on the Apron.

Step 7:

Start at one end of the Apron, sew the Tape to the Fabric along the length of the Cotton Tape, Finish where the Apron finishes. The line of Stitching needs to be as close to the edge of the Tape as possible, like this;

Step 8:

Fold the Cotton Tape down, over the Front on the Apron. Pin and Stitch, close to the the bottom of the tape as you can, then Top Stitch along the Top Edge in the same way using 0.6cm/ 1/4′ Inch Seam Allowance like I show you below;

Step 9:

To finish off the ends of the Cotton Tape, I double folded the ends and then stitched in place for a nice clean finish 🙂

Step 10:

Stitch from the Bottom of the Pockets, through all 4 Layers and finish where the top of the taller Pocket Finishes. Again i used the Tailor’s Chalk and Ruler to get a nice Straight Line 🙂

There you go! One Craft Apron ready to get your Creative Groove on!

I can see my residents wanting one of these for themselves! Hahaha! As you can see it’s all encased nice and neatly so no raw edges on show 🙂

Here is the Crafty Apron modelled on ‘Dorris’ with some Sewing Supplies 🙂

I hope you’ve enjoyed my quick and easy Tutorial on making your own Crafty Apron!

Just in case you missed the Schedule of my fellow Bloggers taking part in the Tilda Circus Blog Hop, here you go;

Saturday 8th April – SewandSo

Sunday 9th April – Bakes, Books & My Boys

Monday 10th April – Littlest Sweet Shop

Tuesday 11th April – The Yorkshire Sewist – That’s me of course!

Wednesday 12th April – Starting Stitch

Thursday 13th April – Just Sew Sue

Friday 14th April – Just Jude Designs

Enjoy the Hop!

Also not forgetting one last thing!!

Since I’m the nice and sharing type, I’ve got 2 Fat Quarters from the same collection I’ve been working with together with some Cotton Tape so you can make your own Crafty Apron!

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post here, my Facebook Page, Twitter or Instagram. If you’re feeling lucky you can leave a comment on all four to quadruple your chances to win!!

The Giveaway is open to Worldwide as it wouldn’t cost too much to post internationally 🙂

The winner will be announced on Saturday 29th April 2017!

Sal xx

13 Comments

  1. Heather Haigh says:

    What a lovely clear tutorial. And the fabric is really nice too.

    1. Admin says:

      Thank you Heather 🙂

  2. Helen Thurston says:

    Fab tutorial – easy to follow and understand. Love those prints too. 🙂

  3. I love your tutorials and no I’m not just saying that to try and get my hands on some lovely fabric!! ???

    1. Admin says:

      Aww thank you Sarah! I wouldn’t of thought any less ???

  4. Emma Holmes says:

    Can’t wait to make my own, thanks ?

    1. Admin says:

      Thanks Emma ?

  5. Hazel Schofield says:

    Cool, I love this. Thanks for sharing such a fab design idea xx

    1. Admin says:

      Thank you ?

  6. […] Tuesday 11th April – The Yorkshire Sewist […]

  7. Katy M says:

    Thanks for the great tutorial and I love that fabric!

    1. Admin says:

      Your welcome! ?

  8. […] Blog Hop where i made a Crafty Apron using Tilda’s new Circus Collection where you can follow my tutorial here to make your own in 10 simple […]

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