Saturday, June 1, 2013

Real Women Wear Aprons



I was on my vacation this week, visiting my dad, and pumping him for WWII stories about his family.  My uncle was a pilot during in the Pacific. Memorial Day is special in our house because Uncle Billy Rhea did not make it home. 

But my visit also meant no cooking. What would I share with you all? With all Dad's stories, I spent my down time fantasizing about what it would be like to live during WWII. Would I be a Rosie the Riveter or would I be down on the farm, providing food for the war effort?  Not an easy choice. Women still had to do it all when it came to cooking, unless they lived in a boarding house!  
Put me on the farm! I have to cook the way my grandmothers did in the years leading up to WWII.  Pure and simple, due to my allergies. But it was messy cooking, what with frying chicken and making blackberry jam, chopping tomatoes and creaming corn for canning.Did I mention I am known for spilling things on myself?  My cooking and eating are not graceful ventures! Oh, the clothes I have stained. Got any good remedies for getting out chocolate and mustard? Put them in the comments.

How did my stylish relatives cope? Laundry meant back breaking work. They had to keep what clothes they had in good condition because there were fabric shortages and money still wasn’t flowing after the Depression. But they had a secret weapon: aprons, truly extraordinary aprons.  I know, because I inherited my great-aunt’s collection.  She created aprons with flair!   
These are some of my favorite inherited aprons. Every one is hand done with lots of details.
I may write WWII romance but I am not a total fan of the fashions of the day. Shoulder pads. Recycled suits due to fabric shortages. Cork, yes, and wood shoes. But, thanks to my great-aunt, I am an apron-obsessed woman. I now stalk thrift stores, ebay and Etsy for unique creations.  Aprons were one way women got to be creative with a small amount of fabric.  And my friend Mary Jo is a kindred spirit.  So we created a Real Women Wear Aprons board on Pinterest. Click here to see our board. 

Interesting sidelight: Our board has followers in their twenties and thirties due to the “New Domesticity” movement. Emily Matcher has spoken about it and written a book, Homeward Bound, about how younger women are doing things the old-fashioned way of their grandmothers. Their parents may have tossed aside the cookbooks or the knitting needles but these young women are picking them up in vast numbers. My daughter loves to bake and decorate. Others are crocheting or canning or raising chickens. All this interest has led to a resurgence in apron production and high prices on vintage aprons!  I am sitting on a goldmine!

I think it is wonderful others are learning what Mary Jo and I already know…Real Women Wear Aprons.  Even ones that aren't messy chefs and eaters like me! I imagine our grandmothers are having the last laugh.

20 comments:

  1. I'd vote for the farm myself - not that I'd be much better but I'd rather be there than in a factory! I love aprons! not that I cook all that often but I love aprons -got it from my mom (and nope she only cooked when necessary pretty much but she liked to put on an apron!) so did her mom my Grandma...all 3 of us love cookbooks and aprons! I have a couple from my grandma but don't know where she got them -doubt she made them. you're definitely sitting on a gold mine! the sentimental value is probably even more!

    Susanna

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  2. So glad you love aprons too. Sentimental value is priceless for sure!

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    1. Oh, and the farm. My best memories are of my grandparents' farm. The noise of the factory would have driven me nuts.

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  3. I worked in a factory the first summer we were married, and let me tell you, that was plenty of motivation to finish college and become a teacher. Oh the monotony! The noise! The stress to keep the line moving! I would have chosen the farm hands-down. In my apron.

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    1. That is exactly what I thought. But a lot of young woman were tired of the farm and were off to the big city.

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  4. I'm a farmer at heart too! And I love your Pinterest site. Interesting how there is such a strong desire to capture the simplicity and creativity of the past among women these days. There are a couple of entrepreneurial spirits up here who have created a thriving 'vintage' apron sewing business. They created their own patterns based on old patterns, added their own 21st century flair and they can't keep up with the orders. And it's young women buying them. Love the feel of sisterhood passing through the generations.

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  5. JULIE!!!!!

    I saw your facebook pics and went to take pictures of my own old aprons. The little guys wear them when they play 'maker baker man' with the toy kitchen we made out of an old desk.
    And another reason people are moving toward simplicity might the idea of the carbon footprint. At least for us, we didn't want to be consumers, as much as creators. We wanted to support our family as much as we could, creating and using the products at hand.

    I used to whine about everything being made in China, as I shopped at Walmart, until I realized I was creating my own situation. Now, we do our best to make or repurpose or borrow as much as we can, rather than rely on something being made (for mere pennies, in terrible conditions) and flown (using non-renewable fossil fuels) to my little town so I don't have to lift a finger.

    There, rant over.

    Love this post, obviously!!!

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    1. You are the woman! Maybe that is why I love WWII era books, that can do make do attitude.

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  6. I remember my mother and grandmothers in their aprons. Never thought of them as a thing of the past because I still wear one whenever I bake... a bib-style that my youngest daughter made in school waaaaay back in the 80s. I have a couple smaller ones made by my grandmother that I haven't worn in years, mainly because they don't cover the part of me that I usually spill on. :)

    Aprons were a form of practical art... with so many colourful fabrics, often leftovers or reused from other items of clothing. One of my aprons is a reincarnation of one of my MIL's housedresses. (Does anyone wear housedresses anymore?) Making them seems to have gone the way of braided rugs. We're keen on being green but think twice about it when it means extra work for us.

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    1. Carol it is interesting 20 somethings are really into "upcycling" old furniture into new creations. There is hope yet!

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  7. Julie. You have a voice. And it's aprons. I saw the title and the photo and didn't have to check. I knew this was your post.

    Well done.

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    1. Haha! Thanks, Tina. I ask myself, if I was an apron, what kind would I be!

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  8. What a fun post, Julie! I have a vague memory of my grandmother in a apron. But I think I remember my Kim wearing one more.

    And I used to put them on the kids for painting. :)

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    1. That's that was supposed to say mom, not Kim--darn phone. :)

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    2. Oh, painting smocks. I remember those.

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  9. A great post, Julie! I am glad to hear the young ones are taking up aprons--let's hope it leads to more!

    I don't have an apron--I just wash clothes a lot. Your aunt left you a great legacy!

    Piper

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    1. Thanks, Piper! I am very careful which aprons I use and which ones I just display. Stains are stains.

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  10. I wear my apron every time I cook!

    Yes, I'm that messy.

    I love the vintage ones.

    And give me a farm ANY DAY!

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    1. Not a surprise, Jan! And glad to know there is another messy soul around.

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