My friend Elena is amazing. Not only does she run a crafty charity program Charity Wings, she also knows how to hack a tee. I came across her method of transforming a T-shirt into an apron and it’s is the easiest I’ve seen. I tried it on a kids’ tie-dye shirt I made a while back and I’m so happy with the results! I’m going to keep it in my studio for when my little cousins come over to craft! There are so many options for this. It’s a great kids or party craft, and a perfect way to make use of old tees and use them for summer camp!
What you’ll need
- T-shirt, washed and dried
- Scissors
- Iron-on appliqué, if your short doesn’t have a design on the front.
Helpful Tip:Keep in mind that the size of the shirt will match the size of the apron. So if you are making an apron for a child, use a child’s shirt.
Variations:Have fun and tie-dye your shirt first (I used Tulip One-Step Dye), that way it won’t show food or paint spills as much. You can also use double-stick fabric tape to use the excess shirt pieces as pockets, like I did on mine.
How to make it
- Lay your shirt on a flat surface and smooth out any ripples.
- Cut off each arm, armpit to collar. Make sure not to cut the collar itself.
- Turn the shirt over, back side up. Cut below the collar ONLY on the back.
- Cut from armpit to armpit along the back. Remove the excess piece.
- Cut up each side, leaving 3″ connected. This 3″ piece will turn into the apron ties in the next step.
- With the shirt laying backside up, start on the left side and snip up only half-way, then cut along the width of the shirt. Once you get to the end, snip UP. This will have turned the back piece into two ties for your apron.
- This is what it will look like!
- My shirt was pretty boring, so I added a fun iron-on appliqué. You can find these at the craft store.
- This is what it will look like from the back.
Here is a video tutorial from my friend, Elena!
and here is a TikTok I made!
@craftychica Easy apron idea! #tshirthack #tshirt #tshirtdiy #apron #aproncheck #lenovojustbeyou #AprendeEnTikTok #learnontiktok #tshirtapron
Genius!