Hello friends.  Several of you have seen pictures before of my butt aprons (you can make them with the front of blue jeans too, but the butt is so much cuter.  LOL), and have asked about how to make them, how to make the ruflfes,etc.  So, while making the apron shown here, I tried to take some pictures to show you exactly how I do it!!!!  

These are super easy to make, and they aren't very expensive either, because you can normally find worn blue jeans for free, or for 50 cents or less.  Hubby knows by now, to save his blue jeans when he wears them out, and when I run low, I can pick them up at the Thrift shop for 25 or 50 cents.  And Marcia tries to remind me on 10 cent days, or picks some up for me then.  You can't beat that!  You will need some fabric.......maybe 1/2 yard or more??  (you expect me to know the specifics??? LOL  I am the same kind of seamstress as I am baker and cook.  A pinch of this and a tad of that. LOL)    You will also need coordinating thread, although, most of mine I do in plain old white.  The absolute most important thing to remember when making this apron is to buy a denim needle for your sewing machine!!!  

Take a pair of jeans that would "Fit" yourself or whoever you are making it for.  If you are making a child's apron (which I am planning on doing for the 4-5 year olds in my family this year for Christmas), get some kids jeans.  And please don't give someone who is a size 12, a jean apron made from a size 2 pair of jeans and with straps that won't even wrap around their waist ok???  LOL  (Weird pet peeve of mine, that one of my family members doesn't ask for sizes of hubby and I, she just gets what looks right, and it is always one size too small.)  Take the jeans and cut a straight line right under the crotch of the pants to make yourself a vintage pair of Daisy Dukes.  (LOL)  Now cut down the side seam of the pants, cutting away the thick doubled over jean seam on each side, and cut away from front of the jeans by cutting out the crotch.  Now you just have the butt of the jeans.  Take one side and cut a curve the way you want it.  Now, fold the jean (butt) in half, and use as a pattern for the other side.  Each side should be even now. 

In this picture, it looks like my cutting is uneven and a little "wonky", but in reality it is just that the demin was not laying flat enough on the table.  Sorry for this.  Hopefully this gives you the idea though.  Save the top of the jeans, and don't cut it off, because we will loop the waist band and straps under these.

Pick out some fabric!!! Here is a picture which hopefully shows the pattern a little bit.  It is a bright turquoise with paler  and darker turquoise curly q's.  It is very bright, and I think it looks good with the denim.

I like alot of ruflfle, so I cut it several inches wide, knowing that I will have a 1/4 inch seam on both sides of it when it is sewn on the apron.  Mine are probably 3 inches in width.  Depending on how wide your fabric is, you will probably have to cut two lengths, and then sew them together.  I used a cutting mat, a see through quilting/crafting ruler and a rotary cutter to get the exact measurements, but if you do not have these, a ruler, a pencil (mark on the wrong side of fabric), and a pair of good scissors will work just as well. Take this to the sewing machine, and fold over and sew a 1/4 inch all the way down ONE side, and then a 1/4 inch seam down one of the short sides to finish it off.  (The other side can be sewn later when you know just how long it needs to be)  (I don't iron this, I just eye ball it, but if you feel you must measure, and iron it first, please by all means do so!).  

Now, on to the ruffling part.   I take a small tuck about every inch or so (again, eyeballing it), and secure it with a staight pin.  Let me see if I can show you a picture to show you what I am talking about.  You can save time, by making the small tucks and pinning it straight to your denim apron if you would like.  I just did it  this way so you can get a better look at the ruffle.

As you can see in the picture above, I have already sewn the 1/4 inch at the bottom, and have ruffled the top and secured them with pins. 

Now, off to the sewing machine again, to attach the ruffle to the "butt" .   Now there are two ways of doing this, and I think both ways look nice, so it doesn't really matter.  You can either sew the ruffle to the underneath of the denim, or you can flip under a little of the salvage edge of the ruffle and sew it to the top side of the blue jeans.  I hope that makes sense, but now that I am putting it in print, I am not sure it does. LOL  And that is the one thing I forgot to take a picture of!!!!  If anyone has questions, please email me and I will try to help you out!!!  

 Starting off, getting over those huge seams at the top of your pants is a little tricky, and you might have to push or pull the fabric just a tad to get it through.  The rest is a breeze, but I would suggest you take it slow and easy, especially if you are not used to sewing on a curve, or sewing with denim, and plus the fact that you will be removing pins every inch or so!  LOL  Cut off any leftover ruffle, and make a 1/4 seam on the short side of the belt/strap where you just cut it off to give it a finished look.

Next is the strap or belt.  Measure how long you will need it and make it SEVERAL inches longer.  I make mine LONG because I like to be able to tie a bow in it in the back if wanted.

Cut your belt 3.5-4 inches in width, and as long as you want or need it.  When it is sewn, this belt will be 1/2 the width and should fit through the belt loops nicely (1.5 to 2 inches?).   Cut, sew right sides together all the way down one side, turn, iron, and finish the ends by tucking a little inside, making sure it looks right and sewing off the ends.  Feed your belt/strap through the loops as you would a real belt and make sure the leftover is even on both sides.  Now, sew the belt on, by sewing it to the denim just beside the ruffle on both sides to secure the belt.  This seam isn't really that visible, don't worry!

Excuse the cell phone and TV control on the couch in this picture. LOL

Now, you are basically done.  You have the basics down anyway.  You can embellish with little beads, buttons, etc that you hand sew on if you want to.  I am thinking about finding some cute little iron on patches for the aprons I will be making the little girls for Christmas this year, and ironing one on each butt pocket. And I am also thinking of making their's a little more "girly" by making the ruffle with fabric AND lace at the same time.  How cute huh??  My adopted sisters who are in college, want me to make them pink ones, with lace, marabou feathery stuff, some rhinestones and pearls for Christmas.  Another words, they want them so over the top girly, that it would make you almost puke.  LOL They are so funny.  But I honestly think they will be super cute.

I hope some of you will try to make this cute little apron, and post pictures of your own variation!!!