Kids Recycled Shorts Camping Apron

I'd been messing around with this idea of making an apron from a pair (or more) of the kids' outgrown shorts.  I've been collecting pre-loved denim from cut-offs for quite a while (which are currently going into the Camping Patch Quilt), and somehow once you're collecting and reusing denim legs from cut-off jeans, you kind of feel wrong about just getting rid of the shorts once they're outgrown.  Weird, I know.

Anyway, I needed a camp apron.  I didn't want to take my only kitchen apron camping with me, because, well, camping cooking is just messier and more industrial than cooking in your kitchen at home.  And, I was thinking all those pockets and belt loops and hammer loops, and how handy those would be on an apron, and how sturdy denim would be, and how the  material would already be broken in if I used shorts.  Kind of rambly, huh?

Well, somehow, I ended up trying out this idea on an apron for a kid, instead of one for me.  Not sure how that happened, but this is what I did.

A pair of shorts and scissors.

These were once one of Thomas' favorite shorts.  You can tell by the paint.

I cut up the front of the shorts, on the right and left of the zipper, a few inches from the front pockets, and opened it out.

The back-side of the crotch seam made it pook out funny, so I pinned a straight-ish line from the inside, sewed it and trimmed it so the front would lay flat.

And, by the way, what clever person rolled up my tape measure backwards?

Did a simple double-turned seam up both sides, and it was done.  No need for a tie; since there are already beltloops, you can just use your belt to keep it on.  Lazy, I know.

Ready for chow duty on our next camping trip.

No, somehow, I don't have a camping apron yet.  But, I'm thinking about using a full-length jean for mine, so it will be longer.  Whatcha think?