I rec'd this in an e-mail today...brought a smile to my face when I thought about growing up on the southside of Milwaukee where most of the Moms were seen with those big old aprons with pockets. They got them at Goldmans' Dime Store 'down on Mitchell Street.'
The History of APRONS
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 men 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.Send this to those who would know, and love, the story about Grandma's aprons. Or it can be a good history lesson for those that have no idea how the apron played a part in our lives.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, but love !!
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8 comments:
Did blue jeans kill the apron?
My mom still wears one on occassion. She was the standard housewife of an earlier generation. She did EVERYTHING, and a lot of the time she had an outside job, too.
I think jeans did, kk. My Mom (who was a teacher) always wore fancy-dancy ones...lacy things ... had a read dotted swiss one just for Christmas...oooh, Ma, I had forgotten that about her until I started thinking about aprons...
That's a pretty cool article.
That's nice, it made me think of my Grandma.
I wear aprons all the time-- in fact, I really wish I had thought to wear one tonight cause my sweater feels all yucky from the mega cook I just did (so I can have a little ME time this week and go to the gym instead of cooking after work, yay!)
I like to make aprons, too-- funky retro looking ones:-) But my favorite is an old chef's apron I sometimes forget I'm wearing which ends up pretty grimy by the end of the day (it's in the wash right now:-)
p.s. I went and found my OTHER favorite apron (the one that's NOT in the wash at the moment), and once I put it on it really did help me to feel like all was right with the world, lol! And where did this come from, anyway? Don't think a single woman in my family wore an apron, at least 2 generations back...
And then I got a sudden urge to peel and core the last 5# of apples I have in cold storage to freeze for pies, finish up the dishes, and then debone a chicken for dinner tomorrow (and start making chicken stock for soup). Gar!
Aprons = work, too.
Any of ya'll want an apple/strawberry/rhubarb pie baked in a paper bag (a la "Elegant Farmer") at our soiree on Saturday? My freezer is bursting at the seams, and I already have my apron on...
Cyndi, I want that pie! Oops, I will be here not there. Boo-hoo...
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