How to make a garden apron

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This weekend I made a garden apron, a practical and personal tool that has a long-established presence and history in folk magic.🌿

In Backwoods Witchcraft, author Jake Richards (@jake_richards13) shares some Appalachian apron lore:

“Placing a certain number of knots in a person's hair was believed to either drive them mad or straight out of town, while tying a knot in the corner of an apron proved good for many things, such as shooing an owl away (and with it omens of death). In Appalachia and the Ozarks, no knots were tied to take a man's aim at shooting a gun; instead, the strings of the apron were simply crossed to take the man's aim, to get strangers to go on their way, and to avert bad luck at the mention of ill fortune.”

Using knot magic, I constructed my apron using a rugged (and super pretty) canvas fabric and a lightweight cotton for the lining. I was able to complete the whole thing in two afternoons and stitched it all by hand. 

I’m still very new to hand-sewing. I learned how to sew on a machine and have always been too intimidated to try handwork, but I’m glad I finally went for it. I love the rougher look of the stitches plus they’re a simple way to add lots of knot magic.

This style also makes it easy to wrap up the bundle and grab on the go, which is great for keeping garden stuff organized. 

This morning for patrons, I published complete directions for creating this garden apron with pictures and notes to guide you every step of the way. Click here to find out more about my Patreon. This is the perfect project for a beginner, either in sewing or knot magic. If you’ve never tried sewing by hand, this is a good opportunity to try! You might fall in love with an important, ancient, satisfying skill that will lead to the creation of more useful and beautiful things.🥰

Either by hand or machine, it’ll sew up quickly and beautifully. 

In the article, I also share more about apron folklore and how to make your apron extra personal to you. 

Unfortunately, we’re back to winter in Western PA, but counting down to the last frost.🌞