In an effort to save money on school supplies, I’m stitching up a painting smock for Brandon, the Kindergartener.

I started by following this tutorial.  It is excellent!  I made some changes since Brandon is too big for this size and I didn’t have any oil cloth in my stash.

I did a quick search at fabric.com for oil cloth–just to see if I could justify the cost.  They have adorable prints averaging $15 a yard.  You only need 1/2 yard of fabric to make this, so $7.50 for a cute paint smock isn’t too bad. (But you’ll need to order extra stuff so you can get free shipping :).) Hobby Lobby also has some cute laminated fabrics in their decorator aisle and 40% off coupons available.  If you bind the edges with bias tape, you can wash it (The glue holding the fabric to the vinyl will wash out and separate the two layers without stitching them together in advance.)

Since I’m trying to do this without spending, I put my thinking cap on and remembered I had some clear vinyl in my stash.  So I layered it with a cute cotton print for the same waterproof effect and no money out of pocket!

Materials Needed:

1/2 yard of printed cotton

1/2 yard clear vinyl

4 yards of double fold bias tape

2 inches of sew in hook and loop tape, cut into two 1 inch pieces

1.  Cut a rectangle 40-44″ (selvage to selvage) by 17-18 inches wide. (Straighten your half yard of fabric and see what you have left.)

2.  Fold it into fourths and use a t-shirt to trace a neck hole.  I used a pencil and traced following the seamline underneath.  And cut it out.  While it is still folded round the lower corner (on the opposite edge–none of the rounds should be over a fold–I messed this up the first time.)

3.  Open up the rectangle and place it face down on the vinyl and trim it–giving yourself about 1″ extra vinyl all the way around.  Pin it with hair clips to keep from making extra holes in the vinyl.

4.  Now baste the two pieces together on the machine.  It helps to sew with the vinyl side up and if you have a walking foot, definitely use it.  Mine is broken, so instead I reduced the pressure foot tension a little and reduced the upper thread tension from a 5 to a 2.  (This kept the lower fabric from gathering up as I sewed.  It also helps to have room to lay your stuff out flat to the left of the machine.

5.  Don’t forget to baste around the neck hole too.  Then trim the vinyl to the same size as your fabric. It looks best if you trim very close to the basting stitches cutting both the vinyl and the cotton.  This makes sure your basting won’t show after you bind it.

6.  Bind everything with bias tape.  I used a triple zigzag stitch to make sure I caught everything well. I only had narrow bias tape in my stash, but would have preferred wider stuff.  Mine was super vintage–$.45 a package!  And I’m not sure, but I bet they don’t come with 4 yards in a package any more.

Stitch #8 is the triple zigzag

7.  Measure 9″ down from the shoulder fold and place velcro or a button on each side to hold it together. I zigzagged all the way around the velcro outside edges.