Patriotic Shirt Apron DIY

Decorate an apron for July 4th or Memorial Day or any summer day in this pretty red, white and blue pattern and kick off the summer barbecuing season in patriotic style.

Here's the easy DIY.


Summer, summer, summertime!! Woo Hoo!! It's here, it's here!

Ok, well, technically, it's almost here, but as a devout summer girl and island dweller, when the weather arrives, the season arrives!

And it has arrived.

I just adore summer, it's my most favorite season of the whole year.

I get to sit by the pool, drive with the windows down and my daughters' song on the radio, hang out at the beach, walk on the warm docks and best of all, barbecue with friends.

Speaking of...in honor of the upcoming July 4th holiday, I made myself a patriotic apron and I can't wait to wear it. And eat...as long as someone else is cooking. I'm just in it for the fashion.

Last week, I finally got around to upcycling an old men's dress shirt and turned it into a super cute (if I do say so myself) full length gingham apron.

It was a very simple DIY that took me about fifteen minutes to complete from the first cut to the last stitch.


Painting my own version of the American Flag on the pocket? Yeah, not as simple. Not for this girl anyway. Despite my prep work and the precautions I took to keep the paint "in the lines", I still managed to make a mess.

But that's ok, for me crafting isn't about being perfect, it's about enjoying the process and creating something I love.

It's kind of my decorating and DIY mantra, because honestly,  if I strived for total perfection every time, I would never try anything.

This way, I get to jump in and try something new without all the pressure. It really is freeing. Besides, I think that the quirks are what makes a handmade treasure so special.

By now you must be dying to see my apron, I'm sure! So let's go.

I started by placing a piece of cardboard in the pocket I was going to paint. It provided me with a flat, hard surface to work on and prevented any paint from bleeding through to the fabric underneath.


Next, I mixed my paint with a bit of fabric medium so it would be wearable and washable. Let's face it, no one needs an apron you can't wash.


I painted one blue stripe across the top of the pocket and then proceeded to paint the rest of the pocket red. I did overlap the colors just a bit for interest.

I needed about two coats of each color to get the shade I wanted. Then I let them dry.


When I peeled my tape off, I noticed a bit of bleeding. That's the not perfect part.

I was able to wipe some of it off and was going to try to scrub the rest of it away, but I was afraid I'd make it worse, smearing it over larger areas, so I left it.


Some of the bleed was covered up by the white stars I stamped onto the pocket. I thought three stars were just enough to add a festive accent.


As for the rest of the mess? What mess? All I see is a darling apron decorated with red, white and blue.


What do you see?

Wait! Before you go, pop on over to visit my super talented and patriotic friends and see what they have in store for the 4th of July!