If you remember your grandmother or great grandmother, you probably recall her wearing a kitchen apron whilst she was home and dressed. Kitchen aprons began as a very simple but essential part of a woman's wardrobe and date back before your grandma.
Aprons were designed with one thing in mind. They were to keep your limited wardrobe clean while you did the chores and took care of the children. Wardrobes were small and limited among the middle class women for many centuries. The women of the lower class were even more limited with perhaps two dresses so the aprons were essential. The wealthier woman did not wear an apron since she had staff to take care of chores and nannies to mind the children. But the staff did wear aprons.
The first aprons were made of feed sacks and were not very stylish. They were decorated with simple rick rack and buttons if those items were available and either tied at the back or buttoned down the back. The aprons showed just a few inches of hemline in the 1920s and 1930's. Wasting was not a practice during these hard times so kitchen aprons were made from any fabrics available.
By the time the '50s rolled around, almost all the magazine ads were showing the everyday woman wearing some apron during the day while they made their own fashion statement. In the '50s women were wearing cinched waist aprons and you would never arrive at a home dinner party without seeing your hostess donning a half apron. Some of these aprons were very beautifully embroidered and sheer. Some vintage catalogs and Ebay as well as flea markets and antique shops often house dozens of these aprons.
In the 1960s the full length apron came back and captured the heart of the slogan industry. Smart, cute little sayings were written on the kitchen apron and you were even invited to "Kiss the Cook". Even dad cashed in on these as the Sunday backyard bar-b-ques continued to grow in popularity. The kitchen apron went to the yard, but still never to the stores or down the street.
Before the doctors' white coats they were wearing aprons. Nuns' habits were, and in some cases still are, protected by aprons. Nurses wore aprons as well as hospital technicians who did certain lab work. Children use their dad's old shirts are aprons for finger painting and other art projects. Carpenters were aprons to hold tools and some short aprons to hold the tools are referred to as tool belts, but kitchen aprons are here to stay and are used once again in the modern kitchen as well as the professional kitchen.
When you were a little girl, you probably wanted to use mom's neat new sewing machine and you learned to make your first apron. You were able to make the apron and begin your sewing skills. By junior high, you may have made another apron in home economics class as a quick project to learn more sewing techniques.
Practical, nostalgic, cute and fun, the kitchen apron will never go out of style, regardless of which style you choose. White tops are saved from spaghetti sauce when you keep the kitchen apron covering your decent clothes. Laundry day is less challenging when you don't have to get food stains from grease splatter out of your blouse. The kitchen apron is here and probably always will be!
Aprons were designed with one thing in mind. They were to keep your limited wardrobe clean while you did the chores and took care of the children. Wardrobes were small and limited among the middle class women for many centuries. The women of the lower class were even more limited with perhaps two dresses so the aprons were essential. The wealthier woman did not wear an apron since she had staff to take care of chores and nannies to mind the children. But the staff did wear aprons.
The first aprons were made of feed sacks and were not very stylish. They were decorated with simple rick rack and buttons if those items were available and either tied at the back or buttoned down the back. The aprons showed just a few inches of hemline in the 1920s and 1930's. Wasting was not a practice during these hard times so kitchen aprons were made from any fabrics available.
By the time the '50s rolled around, almost all the magazine ads were showing the everyday woman wearing some apron during the day while they made their own fashion statement. In the '50s women were wearing cinched waist aprons and you would never arrive at a home dinner party without seeing your hostess donning a half apron. Some of these aprons were very beautifully embroidered and sheer. Some vintage catalogs and Ebay as well as flea markets and antique shops often house dozens of these aprons.
In the 1960s the full length apron came back and captured the heart of the slogan industry. Smart, cute little sayings were written on the kitchen apron and you were even invited to "Kiss the Cook". Even dad cashed in on these as the Sunday backyard bar-b-ques continued to grow in popularity. The kitchen apron went to the yard, but still never to the stores or down the street.
Before the doctors' white coats they were wearing aprons. Nuns' habits were, and in some cases still are, protected by aprons. Nurses wore aprons as well as hospital technicians who did certain lab work. Children use their dad's old shirts are aprons for finger painting and other art projects. Carpenters were aprons to hold tools and some short aprons to hold the tools are referred to as tool belts, but kitchen aprons are here to stay and are used once again in the modern kitchen as well as the professional kitchen.
When you were a little girl, you probably wanted to use mom's neat new sewing machine and you learned to make your first apron. You were able to make the apron and begin your sewing skills. By junior high, you may have made another apron in home economics class as a quick project to learn more sewing techniques.
Practical, nostalgic, cute and fun, the kitchen apron will never go out of style, regardless of which style you choose. White tops are saved from spaghetti sauce when you keep the kitchen apron covering your decent clothes. Laundry day is less challenging when you don't have to get food stains from grease splatter out of your blouse. The kitchen apron is here and probably always will be!
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