wToday my mom forwarded me a chain email about the history of aprons. Normally I don't read these forwarded emails (sorry Mom) but I have a strange love for aprons so I opened it. I thought it was sweet, albeit a little cheesy, so I'm posting a copy of it here.
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.
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...
My mom had some great aprons. There was one in particular I loved, that was terry cloth with a Santa printed on the front. It smelled like cookies.
I remember going to the Seattle Art Museum as a kid and seeing a painting that was like nothing I had seen before. It was this very large canvas with many colors of thick, textured paint layered all over. The piece was based on the artist's experience of burying his face in his mother's apron as a child. That story always stuck with me and was part of the beginning of my love for art.
I somehow started collecting aprons a while back. Probably because I started baking quite a bit more and had to change clothes all the time after getting flour all over me (I'm not a neat baker.) My first project on my new sewing machine was an apron for my daughters to use while "helping" me in the kitchen.
I have made some ruffle aprons which are more fun than practical, and put them up for sale in my
Etsy store.
Yesterday I made this little apron:
I've been calling it an Apron Apron because it has the little embroidered bit on the front (a kind of apron for your apron.) I like it because it's sort of Alice in Wonderland-ish and was made from vintage fabric like I used to have on my antique vanity growing up. The little embroidered piece wanted to be included, so how could I say no?
I think the reason I like aprons so much is because they put me in touch with the past and how hard women used to work to run a household (and still do), make me feel feminine (being a third wave feminist and all, I'm okay with this...) and do serve a practical purpose (keep me from having to do so much laundry!)
When I get around to it I'll put it up in my
Deeds and Petunia store, but my children are busy hitting and kicking each other and screaming and it's taken me about 45 minutes to write this post, so I presently feel the need to go deal with that instead...
