Tuesday, October 6, 2009

An Essay on Aprons




A friend sent this to me.  Thought I would share. The apron pics are mine!



Aprons




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 childrens' 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.  (I know I hid there.)


            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 driveway,
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.






Keep in mind -


- 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.

- Some Moms today would go crazy trying to figure out how many germs were on Grandma's apron.

I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron. 




5 comments:

  1. My first quilt was made of aquares from my Granny's aprons. She wore the kind that went over her head and tied in back, and my brother would run by and pull the ties out. She'd let out a WHOOP and chase him down the street. I felt that her apron was was comfotable was, so I made my granddaughter a quilt out of it. Circles,,,,thanks for the good memories!

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  2. I love your aprons....and I love the story about grandmothers apron. Both my mother and grandmother..most of the ladies I knew, all wore aprons. I think that's why I love aprons so much..it's the sweet memories they hold.

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  3. This is wonderful! Thank you for sharing it!

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  4. Wonderful post!
    I just received your envelope today! Thank you so much for sending those copies to me. I had completely forgotten about them, what a nice surprise! Don't know I will have the chance to work on something from them but, I'll be sure to keep you posted. Thank you for going out of your way to do me this kindness, I so appreciate it.

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  5. Great story...I wear an apron when cooking but never thought of it as a wonder garment! Thanks for sharing!

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