Butterick 4945: Ruffly Apron

Hello! It's a been a while. In May I had to undergo some hip surgery to repair some damage. That took me out of commission for a bit. And now I have a pinched nerve in my shoulder that's limiting the use of my left arm. As you might guess, sewing projects have been going pretty slowly because of that. But! I've still been working on some things. I don't know why, but I've really felt like making aprons lately. Actually, I've felt like that for a while (the first one was back in April), but now I'm actually doing it. 

For my second apron, I decided to use Butterick pattern 4945, version D. When I picked it, I was just thinking 'a cute ruffly apron that will be easy'. Once I laid out my fabric, I started thinking of it more as 'a fun, '50s-style apron that will be rather fancy'. I was a little concerned at first, because the pattern only went up to size 18, and usually I cut size 20 (or somewhere between 18 and 20. . . I call it size 19). But the back ties seemed long enough to compensate for any shortness on the sides, and adding to the ruffle was a little more work than I wanted to do, so I cut it at 18 and hoped for the best. As it turned out, my fears were unfounded, the finished apron fit perfectly, and the ties are definitely long enough to make a nice bow. I did make some adjustments, but they weren't really big adjustments. It's a slightly older pattern, but hopefully it's still popular, so the notes will still be helpful. (And if it's not a popular pattern, it should be, because it has a lot of options, and it's very cute.)

B4945 Pattern Notes:

• The first thing I noticed after cutting everything out is that the pattern is designed so that the wrong side of the ties shows. I didn't like that idea. But I did like the wide, sash-like ties, so I wanted to keep the size the same. I ended up getting some contrast fabric that matched my main print and cutting 2 more ties, then sewing the main print and contrast pieces right sides together along the sides and angled end. I trimmed the seams, turned the ties right-side out, and pressed them. If you don't want to use contrast, you could just cut 4 tie pieces instead of 2. 


• The side facings ended up being too long. I had to trim them down, but I made sure to leave 5/8" from the side hem for the seam allowances.



• After I turned the facings, I found that a triangle of fabric with raw edges stuck out in the back. I didn't want to cut it off, because doing so would mean cutting into the end of the ties, and I didn't want to weaken them. So I used little pieces of black bias tape to bind them. The raw edges were enclosed, and the little tabs are barely noticeable.


• The bottom edge where the flounce and the apron join is ideal for binding with bias tape, or flat-felling. I didn't want to put any topstitching on this apron, so I bound it.


• The pattern directions say to slipstitch the back facing to the apron; that seemed a little unnecessary to me (plus not really do-able because of my shoulder problems). Instead, I folded the edge of facing under by 1/2" instead of 5/8", and stitched in the ditch on the right side of the apron. The stitching caught the back edge, and is pretty much invisible. It was a lot easier!

I'm so happy with how this apron turned out, and how easy the pattern was. It didn't really have any major problems. I love how tying a big bow in the back makes it frilly without being too delicate for regular use. In my opinion, it has a nice, vintage, I Love Lucy sort of flair. It felt kind of weird not topstitching everything, but it worked out well in the end. The apron looked a little fancier and less utilitarian without it. I might even try not topstitching more things!