Kid’s Art Smock {A-Z Series, “A”}

The bell has rang, the seats are full and students are nervously awaiting their names to be called in the first roll call of the year! Let’s start our roll call with the letter “A” for Amber from Crazy Little Projects who is sharing the first project in our awesome Back To School A-Z series and guess what…it is art time! Let’s grab our “A”rt Smocks, paints and brushes and let’s get painting! This smock is so cute and your kiddos are sure to LOVE painting and creating even more while they sport this adorable smock that will make them feel like Picasso himself. Enjoy!

Hello hello! This is Amber from Crazy Little Projects and I am super excited to kick off the A-Z Back to School Projects on The Ribbon Retreat this month. I’ve got a bunch of Back to School stuff going on at my blog right now too, so come on over and check it out!

Since I am starting things off, I get the letter A. A is for Amber. And A is for….Art Smock!

I’ve got a Kid’s Art Smock tutorial for you:

I am thrilled with how this turned out. In fact, I chose this cute fabric to make it even though I have 4 little boys and it’s very girly and when they saw it they got excited and wanted to wear it too. Whoops! Should have used boy fabric, but I couldn’t pass up this cute girly polkadot and chevron.

Kid’s Art Smock Tutorial:

Supplies Needed:

• 1 yard each of 2 coordinating fabrics (you will have leftover-but leftover is fun!)
• Small pieces of 1/2 inch elastic
• 2 packs of extra wide double fold bias tape
• 1 yard of clear vinyl (in the home decor section at my fabric store)

Instructions:

To cut this out the first thing you need to do is fold your fabric right. You need to fold it in half vertically and then horizontally as well. So, start by folding it vertically, then bring the top of the fabric down so that there is a fold there as well:

You will cut with the fabric like that. To cut it out, follow my visual guide, with these measurements:

The width at the widest part of the bottom is 18 inches across.

The length from shoulder to bottom is 24 inches.

The neck hole circle begins 3 inches down from the shoulders.

The arm holes start at the shoulders and the bottom of them is 6 inches down.

You’ll need to cut 1 of these and then 1 more of your coordinating fabric AND one from your vinyl.

Layer all 3 layers so that the two fabrics are back to back with wrong sides together and then vinyl is on top of your main fabric.

Trim the edges to make sure that they match up perfectly.

Pin your bias tape all the way around the outer edge of the smock and then sew it in place: (At the sharp curves in the arm pits I stopped, cut the bias tape and began again rather than trying to go around the corners.)

Once you have gone all the way around, you’ll need to cut a slit from the neck hole down the back about 5 inches. Grab your bias tape and line this as well:

Across the bottom of the slit sew back and forth a few times to reinforce it.

Then, cut your elastic into 2 pieces that are each 4 inches long.

Sew it to the underside of your smock on the front and the back like this:

And that’s it!

If you want, it can be reversible:

You could even add vinyl to the other side as well to make it truly reversible.

You might also like:

Kid’s Lunch Box Tutorial:

Thank you Amber for kicking off our A-Z series with a bang and with an “A”dorable “A”rt Smock! My kiddos are sure to love wearing this “A”wesome smock while painting “A”way “A”ll day! For more incredible…I mean INCREDIBLE projects by this super talented lady, make sure to visit her at Crazy Little Projects!

Class is dismissed for the day but make sure to do all of your homework, which consists of making one or two of these adorable Art Smocks and then paint a beeeautiful picture! AND…make sure you also come back tomorrow and help us learn more about and celebrate the letter “B”!

Since we are talking about the letter “A” today here are a few more “A” is for awesome projects…

Are you favorite things that start with the letter “A”?

Happy Creating & Happy Letter “A”!