I've blogged several times about being an attendee at Thursday Teas at Two held at Troy Historic Village, but on June 25th I had the privilege of being the presenter of Aprons Through History. What a fun time I had with the ladies. They were so responsive, and several brought aprons from their own collection to show me afterwards.
~ Ladies arriving ~
You gotta come early for a front row seat! ;-)
By starting time the church was almost filled to capacity. Stephanie Suszek, the Adult Programming Director, opened the program donning an apron in keeping with the theme.
I began by showing my paternal grandmother's bib apron, which I'm so happy to own. An apron was part of her everyday outfit, and the only time she didn't wear one was when she went to church or to the store.
The black silk apron on the left is from the Victorian Era and is the oldest apron in my collection. The sashes were pinned instead of tied, and as you can see, whoever owned the apron had a very tiny waist. A full-size apron on the right.
Special thanks to Carol, an attendee, for taking all the photos and letting me use them in this blog post. Below is a crazy quilt apron and a beautiful crochet apron.
The half apron on the left has a terrycloth hand towel sewn to the waistband. On the right is a Christmas apron.
Novelty aprons - one from Germany and the other from Russia.
~ I took my mannequin "Matilda" with me to model a pinafore apron ~
Aprons are the ties that bind! The photos are a small sampling of what was shown during my presentation.
What lady do you have fond memories of who wore an apron? Do you wear one yourself?
I collect vintage aprons too, although I rarely wear one myself. My mother made an apron for her mother in high school Home Ec (early 1940's) and that is my most prized one. It's pink with tiny blue buds and trimmed in eyelet. I use my aprons mainly for decorating. For example, at Valentine's Day I take my red and white ones and tie them to the backs of the dining room chairs and they look like little skirts. So cute!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea!
ReplyDeleteMy mother and Aunt Mary always wore aprons. They made most of them. I have several memories of my mother and aprons. She was my 4th grade 4-H sewing leader and taught me and my friends how to sew using a very simple pattern provided by the home extension service. She made several of those over the years. Sadly, I don't have any of them.
ReplyDeleteHow very fun! A very underappreciated culture style marker! Great collection!
ReplyDeleteRuth
I enjoyed seeing your aprons! I have a red one very similar to the first one you showed, that I remember my paternal grandmother wearing. I also have a treasured photo of my youngest daughter wearing it as she made biscuits - she is quite a baker and cook. I also rescued a box of aprons that I think came from my maternal grandmother - my sister-in-law was going to yard sale them and I said, no, these are going home with me. I have not yet sorted them out and figured what to do with them but they were too special to discard!
ReplyDeleteWhat a marvellous idea, keeping aprons alive and bringing memories back. I have (and wear) several vintage / Victorian pinafore aprons. I like full long pinafore style aprons, and even have one very similar to "Matildas'" apron. My mother had us girls wear a full apron around the house, it was part of our wardrobe.
ReplyDelete