I'm testing out new ideas for layering and accessorizing, as well as adding more pockets to my outfit without wearing clumsy fanny packs or cargo pants. Side note, this partially comes from a video I saw dissecting military inspired fashion and how much of a presense it still has. Now I am of two minds on this, on one hand military fashion's popularity in alt scenes can be largely attributed to Vietnam protesters wearing their uniforms to give credit to their statement, and it became widly adopted. On the other hand, the act of wearing military inspired clothing and american flag clothing is more and more mainstream and it's no longer such a straightforward message. If it gets me to rethink my clothing choices though, I welcome the opportunity.

This is coming at the same time I am experimenting with the palazzo pant pattern. This apron is meant to be a casual wear, and possibly something to add to day-to-day wear.

I have never been an apron person, mostly because I hate the feeling of thin straps on my neck. The goal is to make something more shirt-like that rests gently across my shoulders.

I am using an old pair of jeans for the majority of the apron. This pair was purchased about 6 years ago, as you can tell has been heavily patched in the years since as it was one of my two daily wear pairs. I also collect all the pockets off of my other jeans and cargo shorts as I reture their fabric, so we'll be using some additional pockets from those.

The floral fabric was given to me by a friend's mother cleaning out her fabric supply, at least a year ago. I love the geometric design and bright colors. I realized I wanted to finish off the apron with bias tape for a very clean edge, since I know the patchwork I'll need to do wil make it very hard to simply hem it over. The pattern on this fabric is diagonal, so by measuring the space between the repeating pattern I was able to create bias tape with the repeating flowers. This is my first time making this much bias tape for myself, so I'm really proud that it worked!

I only had a vague idea of how large I wanted everything to be, and took my own measurements to aproximate the width and height. I knew I wanted a tie at the waist, so I made each side in a top and bottom panel. The two top panels I cut first out of the widest part of the jeans, since they would be the most central in the final piece. For the front bottom, I patched together the pockets I wanted to use. For the back bottom, I just patched together the leftovers.

After sewing the two sides together and again at the shoulders, it was time for lining. Laying the apron out on a thrifted cotton bedsheet, I simply pinned and traced along the edge. I sewed the lining down along the edge, then added my handmade bias tape.

On each side of the front, right above the pockets, I added two small loops using the thick overlapped seams of the original pants. I like to tie my key lanyards to my belt loops, so these are to attach keys and things. On the chest, I added a row of loops to hopefully hold pens.