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Tie one on
Aprons coming back as women wrap themselves in nostalgia
By Kate Arthur
karthur@pantagraph.com

Marian Harris, 85, of Normal, held her favorite apron, with a terry cloth towel sewn into the waistband. Aprons used to be worn all day to keep a homemaker's dress clean, and they're now making a comeback. (Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY)
Lifting her apron skirt, she could cradle cold and wet baby chicks, a weak kitten, a handful of smooth tomatoes, fresh eggs or a pocketful of peas.

She could use it to shoo flies clinging to a screen, signal a farmer for dinner or dry the salty tears of a child.

Sometimes she'd use her apron to wipe away a bead of sweat, ward off a chill or catch her own tears as she waved goodbye to a husband or son going off to war.

Maybe we shouldn't have given up our aprons, a symbol of warmth and security that tied us, ever so neatly, to our past.

The sturdy material came in handy to dry your hands, open a tight Mason jar or dust a table on your way to answer the door, said 85-year-old Marian Harris of Normal, who has a dozen or more, including the muslin apron stitched 75 years ago in Bible school.

"It was a necessity," she said. "People didn't do as much laundry then. People had to protect their clothes."

Her favorite has a turquoise terry cloth towel sewn into the waistband.

"This one was a handy one, especially if I was cooking for a crowd," she said, holding it up to her waist. Arms stiffened by arthritis can no longer reach around to tie it.

A stack of aprons lay on her sofa. Each told a story. The fancy smocked lilac gingham, from her mother-in-law, told of a time when women pumped water from a nearby well.

"She said she always put the pocket on the left side because the pump handle would catch on it on the right."

Aprons were made from unraveled feed and flour sacks, along with dress remnants. Deep pockets held crumpled tissues, wooden clothespins, a pencil stub, stray marbles or a chain of safety pins.

Apron archaeologist EllynAnne Geisel of Colorado doesn't think we've seen the last of aprons as women wrap themselves in the comfort of their homes again -- cooking, entertaining and picking up needlecrafts.

She bought her first apron eight years ago at a thrift store. As she moved a hissing iron across the smooth fabric, she started wondering about the woman who'd wore it, what her life was like, how many children she had.

Now she has 400 aprons, along with memories gathered from across the country, which she shares in "The Apron Book: Making, Wearing and Sharing a Bit of Cloth and Comfort" (Andrews McMeel, 2006 $16.95).

The book traces the evolution of the apron and includes 95 color photos with enough gingham, ruffles and whimsical rickrack flowers to evoke a memory or two.

The author's fascination with aprons led her to start designing and selling her own aprons on www.apronmemories.com. Two of them have been worn by Bree, played by Marcia Cross, on "Desperate Housewives."

Aprons hit their heyday in the '50s, when modern household appliances gave women more free time to spend sewing. Happy homemakers were whipping up aprons for every occasion -- the holidays, bridge club, baby showers.

When electricity came along, aprons started to fall off, Harris said. With a washer and dryer nearby, you didn't have to be as careful of splatters.

And then something else came along -- pantsuits. You could still pull an apron over them, there was even a vest-like pattern designed for pants, but June Cleaver never would have approved.

And during the women's movement of the '60s, women happily cut their apron strings and ran out into the workforce, Geisel said.

"Women tossed them -- even those lovingly sewn by their own mothers and grandmothers -- straight into the giveaway bag."

And the next generation came to know aprons as a junior high sewing project.

Helen Leake of Lexington agrees with Geisel that aprons are making a comeback, not because of nostalgia but because they're practical.

She still wears a feed sack apron and has used it as a potholder, gripping the handle of a cast iron skillet or pulling a roast from the oven. But the apron story she'll never forget was about a former neighbor, a widow in her '80s who kept eyeing the Corvette she allowed a young man to store in her garage. She wouldn't ask him for a ride but Leake did.

He handed her the keys and she walked up to Esther Maas' front door and asked if she'd like to go for a spin.

"She said, 'Should I take my apron off before I get in there?' We didn't go very far but she was thrilled to death, although she worried about her apron."



Giving and storing them



Aprons are inexpensive gifts, and are easy to personalize. If you're lucky enough to still have your mother's or grandmother's apron, you can take steps to preserve it. Here are some tips from The Apron Book (Andrews McMeel, 2006 $16.95).

• Have an apron party; hit the fabric store for inexpensive broadcloth and patterned fabrics, remnant bundles and hem tape, rickrack, felt, buttons and other accessories. Precut the pattern pieces for simple waist aprons cut out of different fabrics so guests can mix and match. Set up your iron and sewing machine. If your friends don't sew, provide a batch of bright white chef's aprons, fabric markers, a glue gun and decorative trimmings.

• Make a handprint apron for mom or grandma using a crisp white chef's apron, fabric paints and pens. Wash, dry and iron the apron to preshrink it. Practice making handprints on scrap paper. When the handprint is dry, write the child's name and age next to it with a fabric pin.

• Make a birthday apron, adding your child's handprint to it each year.

• On a special occasion, set out an apron and invite guests to write a message.

• Make a teen apron by decorating it with the pockets of a pair of his or her old jeans.

• If there's a back yard chef in the family, decorate a chef's apron with recipes or packets of spicy rubs in the pocket. Pin on a gift certificate to a gourmet cooking store or meat shop.

• "Tie One on Day" is celebrated the fourth Wednesday of November. On Thanksgiving Eve, wrap a loaf of bread in an apron, tuck a prayer or note of encouragement in the pocket and deliver it to someone who could use a lift.

Storage tips

• Do not starch aprons prior to storing them.

• Store them flat, not folded. If you can't store them flat, roll them. If you must fold them, re-fold them at least twice a year, folded differently.

• Place acid-free tissue paper between each apron and use more when folding or rolling them. Ask your local dry cleaner if you can buy some of the tissue paper.

• Fabric needs to breathe, so store aprons in a drawer or archival quality storage box. Do not store them in plastic bins or bags.

• Use herbal moth repellants to keep away cloth-eating insects.

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Take a look
An apron's pocket should always be on the left so it won't catch in the well pump handle, Marian Harris' mother-in-law told her. (Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY)
Marian Harris still has her first apron, which she made in Bible school when she was about 11 years old. (Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY)
The '50s were the heydays for the apron, when household appliances gave homemakers more free time. They started sewing fancier aprons from patterns. (Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY)
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Reader comments on this story - 5 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

To Marian wrote on Mar 12, 2007 10:14 AM:

" Love you! You're the best! "

Carol wrote on Mar 9, 2007 10:15 AM:

" I recently gave each of my Granddaughters (ages 17 and 18) one of my Grandmother's aprons and told them how precious the memories were of these aprons when my Grandmother wore them when she lived on a farm in the near Farmer City, IL. I enjoyed this article so much. "

I was still wearing an wrote on Mar 9, 2007 5:19 AM:

" apron 42 years ago - the ones that tied around the waist. The best ones were like my Great Aunts wore. They slipped over your head and covered the entire bodice as well as the lower part of the body. My Great Aunts were born before 1900 and one who died in the late 1980's was still wearing that particular style. She was a farmer in Iowa. "

Pat wrote on Mar 9, 2007 5:11 AM:

" Great Article!! It brought back many wonderful memories of my Great Aunts and the one Grandmother that I knew. The last I remember them being worn all day was in 1973 when my Great Aunt died at the age of 96. I'm sure some remember Grandmothers or Great Aunts who wore them after that. I saw many home made cookies pulled out of the old black cookstoves - 'powered' by coal - with these aprons and many eggs, vegetables, etc. carried in them. I saw them wipe away a child's tears and wipe away tears from laughter, too. THOSE were the good days even if we didn't have all the conveniences that we have today - they were days of close-knit families and a lot of love. Buy an apron and bring back the good old days!! "

Julie wrote on Mar 7, 2007 4:01 PM:

" Thanks for the interesting article. My daughter is a visual display merchandiser in Chicago and she says anything from the 40's and 50's is quite popular now. The only difference being these things are now called "vintage." "
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