Fuzzysword: New Work Apron

When I began woodworking, the only apron I had was one from the kitchen. It wasn't the greatest kitchen apron, but it certainly wasn't well-suited for the shop. It was better than nothing... barely, so that's what I've been wearing. By far, my biggest complaint is the strap that goes around my neck to hold the apron up. I can't stand the feeling of a strap pulling on the back of my neck all the time. It's a serious distraction and drives me nuts. The kitchen apron also lacked appropriate pockets and strength for a shop apron.

I've seen handmade shop aprons from a maker in Texas that seem well made with waxed (or non-waxed) canvas, leather straps that cross in the back and do not go around the neck, and custom sized pockets to fit the phone and other utensils that the wearer wants to always have at hand. The price of these aprons reflected their quality and kept me from joining in on the quality apron fun... until I proposed a joint project with my wife.

She bought some canvas at a discount fabric store, and we bought some leather (buffalo) straps, a leather hole punch, slides, D-rings, copper rivets, and a rivet set thingy.

After discovering that her machine would not work with a double needle (which would've made the double stitching easier and more precise), she resolved to do the work with a single needle. She laid out the apron according to my body and how I wanted it to fit and proceeded to sew the edges and the pockets.

Upon completion of the sewing, I cut the leather to length, installed the slides for adjustability, put the D-rings in the appropriate places, and attached the leather with copper rivets. The apron is wearable now, but I plan to put copper rivets at all pocket corners and stress points for durability. They're (rivets) surprisingly easy to install. The apron that inspired mine has a separate strap that goes horizontally from one side of the apron to the other with a clip. It's a butt strap. I'm not certain I will put this on mine because, so far, it seems superfluous.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention... I also got a bar of paraffin wax and rubbed it across the outside of the canvas, then melted it into the fabric with my heat gun (it's good for something besides reflowing solder on my PS3). Not only does the wax make the apron water, dirt, & glue resistant, it also gives it a "broken in" look that I like.