Aprons

[Anne]

From an internet e-mail chain:

The History of 'APRONS'

I don't think our kids know what an apron is.

The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few.

It was also because it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and aprons used less material.

But along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.

It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.

When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids..

And when the weather was cold grandma wrapped it around her arms.

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.

Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.

From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.

In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.

When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folks knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.


Send this to those who would know (and love) the story about Grandma's aprons.


REMEMBER:

Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw.

They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.

I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron - but love...

[Susan]

Anne

what a lovely post, you brought so many memories back to me.

Thank you

[Andrea Elise]

Anne,

That was a very nice thing to post.

Yes, I have been looking for aprons. The ones I have found are not like what my grand mother wore, nor like what my mother wore.

Very plain offerings, at best. I cook a lot and I want an apron to keep my dresses nice as I wear a dress most of the time.

I am thinking I need to learn to sew to make my own aprons. I have never done any sewing and saw lessons on the web, but, it seems a very complicated thing. It might be fun, if I can just find the time!

Andrea

[April Rose]

A few years ago my wife bought a bunch of home made ladies aprons at an estate sale. They were a very small size, too small for either of us, but they were pretty, so we just hung them on a kitchen door for decorative effect. Over time I have been making copies of them in my own size, and in colors that go with my own dresses and skirts. It's been a fun project. Now I have aprons to suit my mood and my outfit when I'm cooking and cleaning.

I take a quiet pleasure in tying one on when I'm preparing to work. I feel feminine identified, and respectfully aligned with a long history of women's labor.

[Rikki]

I agree, nothing more femme than a pretty apron.

http://www.pettipond.com/laterimages/pi ... 0/1002.jpg

Have a collection of my own that I even wear when cooking en drab with wifey around. She even gave me one for xmas one year. All I need is for her to start buying me the skirts to wear beneath it!

Rikki

[Absaroka]

Thanks for a nice post. I remembered a lot of those things, although I think it was mostly from movies.

It reminded me of a carpenters apron, which you often see at constructions sites and is very manly.

My wife and daughters still have a whole bunch of them in the kitchen, but only use them in the kitchen.

[Cindy Louise]

Thanks for sharing Anne, it brought back warm fuzzy feelings of my Gran sitting on the back step watching my cousins and I play in the back garden.

I'm going to pass this on if you don't mind.

[Anne]

I borrowed it from an e-mail chain which was not attributed so feel free.

I go to a thrift store every now & then and they have an apron section (the store is that big) - most are utility and craft aprons - there was only one "dress apron" and it was a floral that wasn't my taste. I would like to get a nice one when I want to dress nostalgic or do things that might get the nice clothes dirty.