This DIY Father’s Day gift is so easy to make! An easy DIY apron with a fun stencil pattern that you can download is something that dad will love. Read on for the tutorial.
Father’s Day’s a-comin’, so let’s make something for dads and dudes! This DIY Father’s Day gift of an apron is perfect for your husband or dad, especially if he loves grilling.
It’s kind of an homage to a carnivore, if you will. It’s also an awesome sewing project because all you need is a flour sack towel and some black trim.
What Do Dads Actually Want for Father’s Day?
Take it from a mom who has received her fair share of very lovely and adorable handmade gifts from kids. Parents appreciate the cuteness of a handmade kid gift, but what they really want is:
- something that’s actually functional, or
- something that looks really great.
Luckily, this DIY Father’s Day gift covers both of those bases!
More Fun DIY Father’s Day Gift Ideas
If this DIY gift for dad doesn’t quite feel perfect for the dad in your life, check out these other great DIY ideas:
- DIY Cornhole Game
- Make a Wes Anderson Guess Who Game
- Colorful Printable Wall Art
- First Father’s Day Gifts // Embroidered Photographs
- How to Make a Modern Desk Organizer
And how about something to eat and drink on Father’s Day?
- How to Make a Bee’s Knees Cocktail
- Make Your Own Pretzel & Beer Pairings
- Pumpkin Donut Hole Recipe (Two Ways!)
- Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites Recipe
- How to Make Waffle Pizza
- For Brunch // Maple Chicken + Waffle Sandwiches
- Father’s Day Recipe // Vanilla Waffles with Dark Chocolate Drizzle
How to Customize This DIY Father’s Day Gift
There are two parts to this DIY Father’s Day gift.
You could chose to do either one or both! The first portion is actually constructing the apron using a flour sack towel, and the second part is stenciling on the design.
There are plenty of ways you could customize it!
- Try making the apron out of a different fabric. Something colorful or with a pattern could be fun!
- Make the apron but leave it plain, without the stencil.
- Purchase a plain apron and stencil on the design.
- Try stenciling on an entirely different design!
Materials You’ll Need
Materials
- Printable Apron Design File
- flour sack towel, 33″x38″ (like these)
- black woven trim, about 1″ wide
- sewing machine
- pins
- scissors
- freezer paper
- iron
- pencil
- fabric paint
- sponge brush
Make Time: 2 hours
Make a DIY Father’s Day Gift Apron
- Arrange the towel or fabric so that a 33″ edge is at the top and the hems are wrong-side-down. Fold in the top corners 11″ from either side, and so that they fold at an angle down about 15″ on the outsides. Pin at the corners.
- Cut in horizontally on both 38″ sides to meet the fold. It should be a 5″ cut, 15″ down the side.
- On the wrong side, sew a straight stitch hem where you cut in on the sides. Then sew down the diagonal folds. Trim away the excess. This will form the top portion of the apron.
- For the neck strap and waist ties, your measurements may vary. I cut three pieces of black trim, each about 20″. Pin the first behind the outer edges of the top of the apron and sew both sides down with a straight stitch.
- With the remaining two, sew one on each side of the waist (the area where you cut in horizontally and hemmed). Pin one end behind the apron and sew with a straight stitch. Make a quick fold-over hem on the loose end so that it doesn’t unravel.
Download the Apron Printable
Click the button below to download the animal design to add to the front of your DIY apron for Father’s Day.
How to Add A Stenciled Design To Your Apron
- Download our template above! Cut it out of freezer paper.
- Iron the freezer paper, shiny side down, onto the chest of the apron.
- Using a sponge pouncer brush, liberally but carefully paint over the stencil with fabric paint. Be careful to put something down underneath the apron in case paint seeps through.
- Gently peel away the freezer paper.
- Be careful to let the paint fully dry before you wrap up your apron. Since we’re using fabric paint, you may want to wash the apron once before you give it as a gift. Be sure the dad in your life knows how much love went into this DIY Father’s Day gift! And then let him grill away to his heart’s content.
I love this DIY Father’s Day gift! As an update, this DIY was made in 2013 and now, in 2020, it’s still going strong! A perfect gift for dad if you want to make something useful with a handmade vibe. Have fun! xoxo

DIY Father's Day Gift // Stenciled Grilling Apron
A stenciled apron makes a wonderful DIY Father's Day gift!
Materials
- flour sack towel (approximately 33"x38"
- 1" black ribbon or trim
- sewing notions
- freezer paper
- iron
- black paint
- foam pouncer brush
Tools
- sewing machine
- scissors
Instructions
- Arrange the towel or fabric so that a 33" edge is at the top and the hems are wrong-side-down. Fold in the top corners 11" from either side, and so that they fold at an angle down about 15" on the outsides. Pin at the corners.
- Cut in horizontally on both 38" sides to meet the fold. It should be a 5" cut, 15" down the side.
- On the wrong side, sew a straight stitch hem where you cut in on the sides. Then sew down the diagonal folds. Trim away the excess. This will form the top portion of the apron.
- For the neck strap and waist ties, your measurements may vary. I cut three pieces of black trim, each about 20". Pin the first behind the outer edges of the top of the apron and sew both sides down with a straight stitch.
- With the remaining two, sew one on each side of the waist (the area where you cut in horizontally and hemmed). Pin one end behind the apron and sew with a straight stitch. Make a quick fold-over hem on the loose end so that it doesn't unravel.
- Download our template! Cut it out of freezer paper.
- Iron the freezer paper, shiny side down, onto the chest of the apron.
- Using a sponge pouncer brush, liberally but carefully paint over the stencil with fabric paint. Be careful to put something down underneath the apron in case paint seeps through.
- Gently peel away the freezer paper.
- Be careful to let the paint fully dry before you wrap up your apron. Since we're using fabric paint, you may want to wash the apron once before you give it as a gift. Be sure the dad in your life knows how much love went into this DIY Father's Day gift! And then let him grill away to his heart's content.
Notes
There are two parts to this DIY Father's Day gift.
You could chose to do either one or both! The first portion is actually constructing the apron using a flour sack towel, and the second part is stenciling on the design.
There are plenty of ways you could customize it!
- Try making the apron out of a different fabric. Something colorful or with a pattern could be fun!
- Make the apron but leave it plain, without the stencil.
- Purchase a plain apron and stencil on the design.
- Try stenciling on an entirely different design!
Super cute!
Haha, thanks!
Love it! Included in our Father’s Day roundup.
http://themerrythought.com/holiday/things-we-like-fathers-day/
These are neat and I would like to tell you I have been making these types of aprons since I was 10 yrs old. and I am 59 now and haven’t had more fun> I am working on making an apron a bit more manly for a man and it looks like cowboys chaps.
Cowboy chaps apron sounds naughty 😉 love the idea. My man cooking for me and looking good doing it!
As a man, I would describe this as a Mens Apron but not especially manly.
White on white is a little tough to see
I’m more than happy to uncover this website. I wanted
to thank you for ones time for this wonderful read!! I definitely loved every bit of it and I have you book marked
to check out new stuff on your blog.
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What a cute idea!
Wonderful blog, and great product. I will put a link to this product from my site http://www.canvasetc.com. we sell cotton duck both natural and dyed that would work well for this.
I think ballistic nylon fabric would be a great choice for a guy as well 🙂
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Chuck
This is awesome! It’d make a great addition to a gift list we may do in the future (DIY gifts for men). I will shoot you an email about having it featured when we start working on it. Definitely bookmarking 🙂
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Nice GOod Thanks.
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nice good thanks
This is awesome! It’d make a great addition to a gift list we may do in the future (DIY gifts for men).