aprons

Got this from a friend:

The History of APRONS FW: The History of Aprons (not a joke)

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 easier to wash aprons than dresses and they 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 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. Or it can be a good history lesson for those that have no idea how the apron played a part in our lives.

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!!

Reply to
Susan Hartman
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Loved it. I have two aprons that I adore. I went years without wearing one - don't know why. Something about emanicipation or feminism, although I never stopped being chief cook and bottle washer.

My daughter bought me these two aprons a few years ago and I now know why our mothers and grandmothers wore them. I'm hardly without mine. Sure saves on laundry. Germs? What you can't see won't hurt you.

Dianne

Susan Hartman wrote:

Reply to
Dianne Lewandowski

My gran never wore an apron but she did wear a "pinnie" (pinafore) I can still remember the smell of freshly laundered cotton

Reply to
Bruce Fletcher (remove denture

It's interesting that you should post this! I was just having a conversation with my mom a few weeks ago about my grandmother's old aprons and how much I wish I had one of them. She said my aunt might have them all and I should give her a call, but I haven't quite gotten that far yet. I used to absolutely love my grandma's aprons when I was little. They are without a doubt quintessentially "grandma". She was mostly never without one on, and the bit about waving the apron to the men in the fields to come in for lunch is smack on target. Good memories. I've searched high and low to even find a similar styled apron, and all I ever see are those bulky twill things with the strap around the neck. I know my grandma's aprons were all homemade, complete with decorative elastic trim. Well used, well loved. She was, incidentally, the one that fostered the needleworker in me as a child. I miss her.

Jinx

Reply to
Jinx Minx

Vintage aprons are in fashion at present and easily found on ebay. I sold a couple myself recently.

Edna in Sydney

Reply to
Edna

I've got a couple of 'restaurant chef' aprons that the culinary students used to buy. They had water stains and couldn't be sold, so our buyer was giving them away to staff. I snaffled a couple and they washed beautifully. I use them when I'm doing big batches of stuff (especially stuff that splatters like tomato sauce)

I also have several gorgeous embroidered aprons, the kind our Moms wore when cooking dinner for company or holding an afternoon bridge party. More for show than protection. A couple were Mom's, and a couple (including an Irish linen one) I bought at yard sales.

MargW

Reply to
MargW

*snip*

This is very true. I always remember my DM, and my DGMs with aprons. The "work a day" ones, and even some for "dress-up" - when hosting a party, my DM had some little organza numbers. I have a couple that she got on travels

- with beautiful embroidery - that I think will eventually hang in the kitchen/breakfast room.

Honestly, I wear aprons all the time when doing dishes, some cooking. I will admit, that when I stopped working for Starbucks, err, some aprons stayed with me - they're great - except for the no pockets. My DM would put one on for Sunday morning - when we had to go clean/dust. The pockets always had dust rags, etc. I guess that now with the ready access to automatic laundry machines, the younger generation doesn't think about it. Do they clean anyway - or just expect a cleaning service?

Ellice

Reply to
ellice

--snip-->>

All this talk about aprons reminded me that I have one that I embroidered stashed away somewhere. I'm going to see if I can find it and give it to a friend of mine who will appreciate it and wear it. I neither cook enough or dress up enough to worry about splashing.

Reply to
lucille

My clothes are always very washable. We have a 'hostess apron' at the bridge club, clearly from the 50s, done in sheer organza with frills and furbelows. From time to time it is resurrected but nobody has caught me wearing it, it speaks to me of times I don't wish to remember.

My grandmother wore rather plain, utility aprons, and when I think of her I remember her not for her apron but rather that she campaigned for women to vote, campaigned locally to set up an early form of welfare for mothers who hit hard times with the death of a spouse (not many had pensions in those days) or whose husbands went to prison for a crime committed that sort of thing. I don't think there were too many single mothers of choice in those days, or 'fallen women', though she did employ one as a maid who was 'fallen' until she went to a home for unwed mothers to produce the baby.

Not really knocking the aprons, just pointing out they don't necessarily mean the same thing to everyone.

Reply to
lucretia borgia

My mother never wore the aprons with a bib, just the ones that you tie around the waist. I remember making her one as a gift one year, designed for gardening. It was a twill type of fabric with a strip of pockets across the front, dfor the secateurs, trowel, seed packets etc. She wore it a lot when she was puttering in the green house, potting out her "stolen" snips from various botanical gardens!

We had to make the real bib-type at school. It was white, entirely sewn by hand and had a variety of sewing techniques in it. That came before making the white bloomers, with the french seams in the gusset.

Fun memories, although I hated the DS classes... I could cook and sew, so why have to go every week for five years!

Gillian

Reply to
Gillian Murray

The gardening kind is sensible and is good for carrying things. The others for me are just another thing to have to launder. I only buy washable clothing since I'm not working and rarely dress up any more. I spend most of my time in jeans and t-shirts. I'm simply too cheap to pay the exorbitant cleaning costs.

You brought back memories of the apron I had to make when I was in Junior High School. It was pink gingham, with hand sewn bias tape all around every edge and took the better part of the term to finish.

L
Reply to
lucille

Plus I find anything dry cleaned has to be strung out in the fresh air before I can use it, the acetone in their process gives me migraines.

I made one of those, then the next term we were on to washing. We boiled and starched a white damask table napkin and solemnly took it out to the washing line, neatly folded like a pancake, on an enamel plate and ever so exactly pegged it up on the line. The next week we learned to sprinkle and iron correctly.

Slightly more interesting was the 'envelope' we made out of linen to hold our sewing/embroidery. It used various seam techniques and had embroidery on it and we did our names in chain stitch, the chains having to remain constant in size throughout the name.

Years before that when I was first in school at a convent the nun had us stitching something, I really forget what, I was quite keen to do it, but being only five or so, happened to stitch it catching a thread in my skirt. I received a stiff ear boxing for being so stupid. What a way to teach little children !

Reply to
lucretia borgia

I got into trouble for a completely different reason. When I was in 9th grade we were required to make a blouse from a pattern as a class project. Most of the girls (no boys allowed in those classes) chose a peasant style, loose and with elastic around the neck to gather it in.

My mother sewed beautifully and made 95% of my clothes so I already had a pretty good knowledge of how to make a blouse and use a sewing machine. I chose a cotton pique sleeveless blouse, with a collar and some top stitching on the lapels. The teacher told me it was too hard for me, but I persisted and got her to allow it. The blouse came out really great, nice enough for this clothes horse to wear it, and she insisted that my mother must have made it for me. I readily admitted that she did supervise some of my sewing, but I did it myself.

My mother had to tell her I was telling the truth and to this day, I don't think the old witch ever believed me or my mother.

Lucille

Reply to
lucille

We progressed to learning how to scrub a kitchen table!

Reply to
Gillian Murray

I don't remember scrubbing a kitchen table but I do remember how to make a bed. Do you suppose anyone from this generation that hasn't been in the military has a clue how to do a hospital corner? With the advent of fitted sheets, I doubt it.

Lucille

Reply to
lucille

We learned that in Girl Guides; and we learnt to brew tea in Brownies!

Reply to
Gillian Murray

Yes, we did that one too, a wooden table top that had to be nice and white.

When I lived on the farm in Devon there was a huge kitchen table like that, so the knowledge did finally come in useful. Great tables, I used to clear and roll pastry on it, kids would paint etc on it and it always came back and was a pleasant surface to have meals on.

Reply to
lucretia borgia

Yes, if we had not made our bed with hospital corners one missed recess and had to return to the dormitory and re-make the bed.

Reply to
lucretia borgia

My grandmother had a table with a white enamel top and she would scrub it and then use it to roll out her strudel dough. She couldn't read a word of any language, but she would borrow a newspaper and hold it under the dough. When the letters were clear enough to read, the dough was thin enough to be filled and rolled.

I doubt that she ever rolled any kind of dough any where else, and she baked a lot.

L
Reply to
lucille

I attended a school with nuns teaching and it seems that was the only way they knew.

I was a model pupil but still manage to receive several"cuts" with a ruler or cane. On one occasion the girl sitting next to me stuck a pen in my leg and when I yelled the nun wacked my already sore leg with a switch.

Edna

Reply to
Edna

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