A Cross-Back Apron

My mom recently cleaned out her closet and found an old white cotton bedspread that she gave to me thinking that I could make something out of it. It sat in my stash for a few weeks before I got the bright idea to make an apron out of it.

I love to cook, but I usually get something on my clothes whenever I bake or cook. Because of that, I have been wanting to make an apron for myself to save my clothes from stains.
Cue the bedspread!

I used this free tutorial to make my lovely cross-back apron.

Since the bedspread was white, I decided to dye it so any staining would be less noticeable. I picked up some Rit dye and got a 5 gallon bucket filled about halfway with hot water. I poured in the recommended 1 cup of salt, stirred to combine, and poured in my Emerald Green Rit dye. I got the apron wet and carefully placed it in the dye bath. I stirred it around for about 20 minutes. Then I took it out and rinsed it as well as I could, considering the thickness of the bedspread, and threw it in the washer with some special detergent I have that removes the excess dye. I might have used a bit too much, because the apron faded quite a bit in that first wash. But I am still pleased with the results :)

Quite honestly, if this was made up in a softer fabric (I've seen similar aprons made of linen) and embellished it would make a super cute jumper tunic!

I had originally just serged the edges to prevent fraying, so I cut some bias binding from an old pink sheet to bind the edges. Then I decided that it needed some pockets, so I cut some squares from a couple scraps I threw in the dye with the apron. I lined the backs with the pink fabric and hand stitched them on with a long running stitch since I don't think that my poor sewing machine would be able to handle the thickness.

 If I were to make this apron again, I might shorten the front a little bit. I am pretty tall and this apron comes down to a couple inches below my knees.

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The cross back feature is nice because there is nothing to tie and nothing hanging on the neck like most aprons. It's simple to slip on over the head.