Wednesday, July 8, 2009

A dear friend sent this "History of Aprons" to me and it brought back such vivid memories of my grandmothers wearing aprons and of my mother-in-law who is never without an apron when she is in her kitchen, that I wanted to share it with you. I love the look of an apron and have many pictures of my mom-in-law donned in an apron. It just makes you think of a simplier, easier time in our lives, those of us that were lucky enough to be born a little while ago!

So the story goes............................

"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 menfolk 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.

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."



Does that bring back memories for any of you? Maybe we all need to start wearing aprons again..............bring out the farmgirl in all of us. Maybe we could have an apron club or wear our aprons to stitching bee. Maybe we should all get together with an old vintage pattern and make ourselves an apron. Maybe if we made ourselves an apron and actually wore them, it would help us to all slow down and enjoy the days. Thanks for sharing Nancy.

2 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh....I love this!! I also have so many memories of my grandmother and even my mother in an apron!! Little did I know all those aprons my grandmother made and gave to me years ago I would regret not keeping them!!
    Thanks for sharing this....I think I am going to make an apron!!

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  2. Shar - I loved this post. I have my grandmother's aprons and love to use them every once in a while. Good memories...
    (Rusty Bucket) Pam

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