What can you make with $5 ?

I was reading a fellow blogger's post yesterday Laura of Decor to Adore, and in it she was making these cute dish towels for her kitchen. As I read a little further I realized that it was a challenge that she was doing. A $5 challenge to be exact. It all started over at Living with Lindsay and the challenge is to make a Springtime craft using items from the dollar store and spending only $5. I thought it was a pretty neat idea and Laura came up with some awesome ideas.  So I decided to head out to the store and see what I could find. I knew that I didn't have long to make something and I actually think I may have missed the deadline for entering the challenge but I wanted to do it anyway and share it with you. Here is what I bought and also what I used from home to make my craft.

       

Can you guess what I am making?   An Apron!!! I love aprons and I always have good intentions to make them but never find the time. I love to hang them in my kitchen for seasonal color and decoration. Especially my vintage aprons.  They make the feel of the kitchen very comfortable just having them hanging around.  Aprons always have a story to tell even this one. It was really simple to do using dish towels for the apron and a flower to make a removeable pin. And Yes it all came from the Dollar Tree along with some fabric and supplies I already had at home.

Now before I do this tutorial for you I have to say that I am not the best seamstress in the world nor a great teacher so please be kind if you do not understand my directions. Sewing still confuses me. LOL

I started with four dish towels and attached them side by side with a simple straight seam. I did carefully match up the bottom of the towels to keep it even all the way across. Having it un-even at the top doesn't matter because it will be cut anyway.

Once they were all sewn together I cut about 5 inches off the top to even up the seam and get rid of some of the unwanted length.

I then ran a couple of loose stiches across the top so that I could gather the material easily.

Using my contrasting fabric that I had on hand  I cut out the waiste band and the ties.

The measurements for these are as follows:

Waistband  10"W x 20" L

2-Ties, each 10" W x 24" L

I then folded each piece in half and pressed with an iron. I then folded them in half again and pressed once more. I opened the fabric pieces up and folded each side in to form what looks like bias tape.

I sewed each side seam of the ties to each end of the waistband.

Then I attached the waistband over the top of the apron and pinned it in place.

Starting at the end of one of the ties and using the zig-zag stitch I stiched all the way across the tie, through the waistband and to the end of the other tie.  I went back over the top too just for the fun of it.

To make my big flower pin, I removed the stem and the center of the flower. I attached a yo-yo that I had made and a vintage button with a needle and thread. I then glued down the edges with my hot glue gun. I attached the pin to the back with my glue gun too. Voila!!! Pretty Spring flower.

Once I put it all together it was really a pretty Spring Apron to make.  Not too bad for a quick $5 project.

So HAPPY SPRING EVERYBODY!!!!