Aprons for Your Arms

People who dont wear aprons are playing clothing roulette, arent they? At any time, that one splatter can hit you right on one of your favorite garments and its ruined. Aprons from the older days simply covered the front of the body, from the waist, to somewhere above the knee. After someone ruined a few bodices or shirts they came up with the idea for an apron that covered the front of the shirt as well. No matter what kind of apron you wear, though you arent completely protected in the kitchen. Since most people dont want to wear a hazmat-type suit just to protect their clothing from grease spatters and spills, may I offer a helpful suggestion? Aprons for your arms! Kitchen sleeves can protect what your apron doesnt cover! A quick way to make arm aprons is to just cut the sleeves off of an old garment. Cut them straight across, near the shoulder. The sleeves you cut off should be ones that are a bit large on you so that theyll easily slide over sleeves youre already wearing.

The perfect sleeve is one that already has elastic around the wrist. However, you can use a cuffed sleeve, cut off the cuff, then sew elastic around the wrist area. Yes, this will make the sleeve shorter, but unless the cuff is huge - something from the ?70s - it wont matter. The sleeves dont have to reach all the way to your shoulder; they can just come up above the elbow to protect your sleeves. Fold the raw edge of the sleeve down, where youve cut it from the shirt, and sew elastic around it. Simply slide the sleeve over your garment - or bare arm - when cooking.

If you dont have an appropriate shirt from which to cut the sleeves you can just make sleeve aprons from fabric. Select the material, fold it in half, and mark it with chalk or other implement. Measure around your wrist, add three inches to that measurement, and draw that on the fabric, starting at the fold and drawing over. Measure around the upper arm, add three inches or so, then draw that measurement, from the fold, over. Now connect the two lines to finish the "tube" which will become an arm apron. Turn the fabric so that right sides are together and sew down the long side of the fabric, opposite the fold. Sew elastic around the wrist area as well as around the top of the sleeve. Slide the sleeves on, when cooking, to protect your garments - or arms - from grease spatters or other such kitchen accidents. Youll save your clothes and protect bare arms from small burns!