dharmajane: Crafty Corner: Little Chef

My niece P likes to help out in the kitchen. So for Christmas, I found a kid-friendly knife she could use that actually cuts stuff (but not her cute little fingers)!

The Kinderkitchen Dog Knife- After giving it a whirl, she and her mama report that it's da bomb dot com!

To enhance her cooking experience, I also thought it would be fun to make her a little lady sized apron! More on that later....I must first get on my early childhood educator soap box for one brief shining moment: It's so valuable to give young kids the opportunity to participate in meal preparation activities...the more they help, the more likely they are to try foods that they maybe wouldn't otherwise. Just think of all the healthy foods they may gain an appreciation/taste for if they can learn about how they grow and different ways they can be prepared! Plus, they are sharpening (no pun intended) their fine motor skills and boosting their self esteem in mastering new skills - they can be proud of what they have accomplished with the tasty end result...yum.

Some encouragement to you parent types who are raising the future chefs of America...don't be afraid to get in the kitchen with your kids (big and small)! It may get a little messy, but the experience you have together will be so worth the extra cleanup and stress!! And it doesn't have to be a fancy 5 course meal...even small snacks or healthy treats made together somehow taste better:)

Back to the apron making party. I found a basic pattern online and mondified it to my liking:

This is 1/2 the apron (obviously) so you would fold your fabric in half before cutting with the folded edge to the left.

I chose 2 different fabrics and white cotton belting for the ties:

Washed and ironed the fabric and placed the pattern on top to cut (with the fabric folded in half along the left edge):

All cut out:

I also wanted to add a front pocket so cut a rectangle of the opposite fabric and prepared it:

The next step was getting the ties in the right spot to be sewn in. This is always a challenge for my brain to not make a mistake- the goal is to sew it inside out and have the ties not stuck inside when flipped right side in (which I have done more times than I care to admit- argh). It's gonna be ok, we can do this! Place the first piece of fabric with the pattern facing up, lay the ties as shown in the picture and pin in place:

Now, place the other fabric piece pattern side down. You have just made a yummy apron tie sandwich:

Pin it all in place and sew around 3 edges, leaving the bottom open to reverse it when done:

To finish, tuck the bottom open edge in, iron all edges flat and do a final zig zag stitch around the whole apron (in a fun contrasting color if you so desire).

Almost done, sew on a piece of Velcro to one side of the neck tie and apron for easy on and off around the head: