Aprons

Aprons--such a simple little item, yet they serve a big function in a busy household.  Historically they were used to keep one's clothes clean in order to reduce the laundry load in a time when all laundry was washed by  hand.  They still serve that same purpose today, particularly useful when you are frying up supper on the stove or having guests over and are busy with last minute kitchen food preps.

Aprons can have pockets added to the front, which is very useful when you are going from room to room, tidying up.  If something isn't where it belongs, you slip it into your pocket and then when the current room is finished, you can replace each item where it belongs.  Those pockets are also useful to hold your cleaning supplies, clothes pins (when hanging laundry on the line), tissues/hankerchiefs, etc.

Aprons bring back many memories for me.  I spent many hours with my grandma growing up and she always wore an apron in the kitchen.  I have a couple of her old aprons now.  They are old and faded, some falling apart.  She was born in 1907 and died in 2000, so her aprons were old and very much used when I inherited them.  But I keep them still, hanging on a nail in the corner of my kitchen.

Here is one of my Grandma's aprons.  You can see it is stained and ripped.  But it still has meaning to me.

This is an apron a dear friend, A. Morton, made for my oldest daughter several years ago one Sunday afternoon.  She used ribbons for ties and added a cute ruffle at the bottom.  I used this apron as a pattern to trace on old newspaper and I use that newspaper pattern to make little girl aprons to sell.

These are some of the adult aprons I made to sell this past Christmas.  I simply enlarged the pattern I use for little girls.  I use ribbon ties at the waist and one at the top.  I also add a ribbon loop at the top so that the apron can be adjusted to fit the wearer.

These are some of the little girl aprons I have made the past year.  Aprons are a fun and quick sewing project...and easy enough to be one of the first few items a young girl sews herself.

And that brings me to this apron pictured above.  It's one I have made for my daughter.  It is the basis of a kitchen linen set I have made for her hope chest.  I'll be showcasing that kitchen linen set on the blog the next few days.