by Betty Oppenheimer
Prepare for the hustle and bustle of March and April by
creating this wonderful, convenient and cute bucket apron. It'll
come in handy during fall harvesting, too. Break out that dusty
sewing machine!
The bucket apron is designed to fit around a 5-gallon pail. It
allows you to carry tools, seeds, and marking pens with you through
the garden, filling the bucket with weeds or harvested herbs or
carrying fertilizers to spread in the soil. Note: Because the
bucket apron has two large pockets (one on each side of the
bucket), you must make two of everything.
Materials & Equipment
24 inches of 60" wide or 1 yard of 44" wide cotton canvas or
twill
2 yards cotton or nylon webbing, 1" wide
4 yards double-folded bias trim
Sewing thread
Two 1" D-rings
Sewing machine
Iron
Scissors
- Follow the measurements on the cutting diagram to mark and cut
the fabric. Notice that the upper edge of the large pocket is
angled so that the sides measure 8". Mark this shape on a piece of
fabric 8" high by 26" wide, as shown. Mark the placement of the
center pocket, with 5" extensions on each side. Now, draw a
diagonal from the end of each 5" extension to each top corner.
Measure 8" up this diagonal line and complete the top edge as shown
on the cutting diagram.
- Sew bias binding to the top edge of each 6" x 6" pocket. Press
under 1/2" from the bottom edge of each large pocket. Stitch along
stitching line. Fold the pocket up and iron it in place. Topstitch
1/8" in from the side edges, backstitching at the pocket corners.
Stitch again 1 1/2" in from one edge to make slots for pens and
small tools.
- Sew bias binding along the top edges of the large pockets. Lay
a large pocket onto each backing piece, with the wrong side of the
pocket facing the right side of the backing, and bottom edges
aligned. Stitch along the bottom, using a 1/4" seam allowance.
- With the assembled large pocket lying flat on the backing
piece, pin the center of the pocket onto the backing. Measure 5" in
from each side edge and pin the small pocket flat to these points.
Stitch, making a center (flat) pocket and two side (billowing)
pockets. Line up the large pocket side edges with the backing side
edges. Round the bottom corners, and stitch the pocket to the
backing, using a 3/8" seam allowance, following the rounded line
around each corner.
- Trim the bottom corners of the bags along the rounded shape.
Starting at one upper corner, fold under the raw binding edge and
sew binding around the sides and bottom of the bags, covering the
seam allowances that connect the large pocket to the backing. Ease
the binding around the curves and turn under the raw edge at the
ending corner.
- Press 1/2" along the top of each backing piece toward the face
of the fabric. Cut a 48" length of webbing. Starting 3" in from one
end of the webbing, pin the webbing to the face of one of the apron
bags (covering the pressed down edge). Stitch the webbing to the
apron bag, 1/8" in from each edge of the webbing. Leaving 2"
between apron bags, pin the webbing to the face of the second apron
bag. Stitch as before.
-
On the longer end of the strap of webbing, fold
under 1" twice. Use a box stitch to finish the end.
- Thread the two D-rings onto the 3" end of webbing. Fold under
1" twice and pin this to the back of the backing. This leaves the
two D-rings on a 1/2" loop of webbing. Sew the folded ends to the
backing with a box stitch.
- Wrap the apron around the bucket. Thread the long strap through
both D-rings, back through only one D-ring, and pull tight.
Excerpted from Gifts For Herb Lovers
