Sew A Clean Sweep Apron!

A cleaning apron? What, me?

Yes, you! Forget those '50's images of housewifely frou-frou and ruffles: a cleaning apron has a place in the modern home manager's toolkit.

A cleaning apron speeds cleaning chores. Spray bottles of cleaning solution hang ready for use. Apron pockets lined with plastic bags corral bits of trash. Cleaning tools live at the tips of the cleaner's fingers.

Stockpile a stack of cleaning cloths in one pocket, a cleaning sponge in another. With a cleaning apron, supplies, tools and materials are literally close to hand.

The pros know! Professional cleaners swear by cleaning aprons. Savvy home managers purchase cleaning aprons from mail order houses and janitorial supply stores to get the professional. edge on house cleaning.

But there's a small problem. Commercial cleaning aprons don't always accommodate real-world bodies. Designed flat for a straight and slender figure, these aprons sometimes buckle or shift when tied over feminine curves. Skinny string waistbands bite or sag under the weight of cleaning supplies.

Add the cost! Commercially available cleaning aprons run about $20, and don't forget the shipping, handling and sales. tax. For many home managers, cleaning aprons may seem out of reach, for more than one reason.

We've got the solution: our Clean Sweep Apron. Designed by a woman for women, it features a generous apron. gathered to fall gently over womanly figures. An interfaced, wider waistband closes with adjustable Velcro brand hook-and-loop tape for instant comfort. Make it up in white cotton twill, and bleac. stains away in the washing machine.

Just for fun, we've included a decorative graphic. Use T-shirt transfer paper to add our graphic or use one of your favorites to decorate the Clean Sweep Apron.

Yes, you'll need to sew this apron yourself, but our Apron requires minimal sewing skill. Innovative design methods reduce the number of pieces. Use your iron to crease-mark alignment guides for easy construction. You won't need a full-featured sewing room for this project; you can make the Clean Sweep Apron with nothing more than a straight-stitch sewing machine, an iron and a few pins.

Ready? Let's get sewing!

Materials:

• 1 1/2 yard cotton fabric (select medium-weight, tightly-woven, 100% cotton fabric for best washability and wear)
• 1 1/2 yard waistband interfacing
• 3 inches Velcro brand hook-and-loop fastener
• thread

Tools:

• sewing machine
• cutting tools
• iron and ironing board
• pins

Cutting instructions:

From the fabric, cut the following four pieces. All pieces should be cut along the length-wise grain (longest direction of fabric):

• for apron body/lower pocket, cut one rectangle, 19 1/4" by 48"
• for upper pocket, cut one rectangle, 19 1/4" by 17"
• for sprayer loops, cut one rectangle, 3" by 12"
• for waistband, cut one rectangle along selvedge 3 5/8" by user's waist measurement plus 6" (for example, for 30-inch waist, 3 5/8" by 36", cut along the selvedge).

Sewing Instructions:

Note: This method uses ironed-in creases to serve as alignment guides. Press each crease sufficiently to mark the guide, but do not make a sharp crease.

Seam allowances are 5/8" throughout.

Pre-wash fabric in a washing machine, using the same water temperature and dryer settings that you will use to care for the completed apron.

Upper Pocket: