Vintage Aprons

Today my sister who is moving soon to Florida, gave me her collection of old aprons.  I also have a collection, so I was excited.  She had washed them but not ironed, so I immediately ironed them and took pictures.  I grabbed the ones in the bottom of my towel drawer, which I never use but like to look at occasionally and took pics of them too. 

The only time I wear an apron is on holidays when I'm in the kitchen all morning and I would never wear one of these.  I need a heavy duty one!  I'm a sloppy cook.  lol  I guess a lot of these were worn after the meal was completely done and the cooks wanted to look fresh.
 



These were made of organza, cotton fabric and rickrack.



The highlight in these are hankerchiefs.




An apron entirely made of hankerchiefs and a fancy one with printed white decoration.



Cotton and rickrack!!  The sturdy type.



As you can tell this one is very dainty and a full size apron.

When I saw this magazine/book last year, I thought it was so interesting.  There are lots of aprons made from unusual items such as, crocheted doilies, tea towels, men's ties, newspapers, handkerchiefs, and also lots of different styles.   A fun book to peruse!

I found this poem on the internet that I thought was so fitting and maybe some of you will remember your Grandma's apron.

Grandma's Apron                                            By Tina Trivett

The strings were tied, It was freshly washed, and maybe even pressed. For Grandma, it was everyday to choose one when she dressed. The simple apron that it was, you would never think about; the things she used it for, that made it look worn out. She may have used it to hold some wildflowers that she'd found. Or to hide a crying child's face, when a stranger came around. Imagine all the little tears that were wiped with just that cloth. Or it became a potholder to serve some chicken broth. She probably carried kindling to stoke the kitchen fire. To hold a load of laundry, or to wipe the clothesline wire. When canning all her vegetables, it was used to wipe her brow. You never know, she might have used it to shoo flies from the cow. She might have carried eggs in from the chicken coop outside. Whatever chore she used it for, she did them all with pride. When Grandma went to heaven, God said she now could rest. I'm sure the apron that she chose, was her Sunday best.

I wonder where I've put the rest of my aprons.  I need to locate them somewhere in this house and get them all together in a box.  Then sometime I'll get them all out when my granddaughters are here and explain another time when aprons were stylish.