19 February, 2011

To Apron or Not to Apron

My favorite house keeping blogger is back so I'm on a domesticity/ housecleaning spurt, please bear w/ me. One of the topics that came on the discussion board was aprons. I don't wear one all day. In fact, mine all look pretty frumpy, but I do have an apron for my different "house stations". The one that gets the most use hands down is my clothespin apron, it comes off & on several times a day & lives on the washer.

My previous clothespin bag was a black purse that I received for a x-mas gift back in 8th grade when I began my goth spurt from my aunt. We've come a long way, yes Aunt S-? It dry rotted last year & wasn't really conducive to this line's placement for some reason. I received this vintage pillow case to practice my machine stitching when I was learning how to sew so I picked out all of the many black practice seams, closed up the open side, cut out some pockets & bias tape & added a waist band. I love it! It holds a lot of clothespins.


By the by, Victor is my photographer; 5 is like a magical age! They can do everything over night. He greatly prefers silly & ghastly faces, so that may be a lot of what you see here for awhile.

This is my yard apron, denim & linen, very sturdy. It is some 70's pattern. I will never make a gathered denim skirt again. I love the pockets though.


It keeps the white hair off of you & any flying muck. A must on rainy days.


This is my cooking apron, I don't use it too often. It's the scalloped reversible from The Paisley Pincushion. It's a bread day & this is my baking side, lighter for flour.



And the sauce side. I made like 7 of these in a row, mine & Charlottes were the first & I put on all of our pockets wrong, but it does the job!

The back view. You can see the crossover straps better on Charlotte's & also where I sewed her pockets on the back instead. Hers is the same denim/ linen combo as my yard apron.

I'm wearing a denim shirt today, it doesn't show up too well but this is my canning apron. This was actually a denim jumper of the potato sack kind. It worked good for maternity; in the later months I would put the jumper on first & then a pretty top, so as to look like a skirt. Mike hated it unless I was actually showing/ pregnant. When we moved here I had 3 people say to me in 1 town day, "Oh, you must homeschool." I cut a strip out of the middle & added a strip of my diminishing linen stash for a waist band. It doesn't match, but it is serviceable.

Back view.
I like this one best; maybe since it was originally a dress the straps don't slip down. But, there is my stash, show yours if you've got them.

5 comments:

Heart of Wisdom Academy said...

Hi Vanessa,

I still read your blog and have just had no time to post. I'm glad you and your family are doing well. I miss you all!!!! Your children are sooooo cute! One of these days I hope to visit your homestead. We still haven't done any traveling. The baby is anti-car, in-fact, he's anti-anything plastic. He's a people baby, and wnats to be held all the time. Long car trips are not in the foreseable future. :-( Love the aprons. I haven't sewed in a couple of months, the last thing I made was diapers and curtains. I'm so glad you taught me about cloth diapers. I've never gone back. I'm glad you're all well and I'll talk to you soon.

Oh and aren't you happy are favorite blogger is back!!!! Made my day!!

Candy said...

I loved this post - great pictures. You're giving me a touch of apron fever now, LOL.

My little girl was standing by me when I was looking at your pictures, and she said "that's good - that lady head covers too." How cute is that? My little girl said that while her purple covering was starting to slide off the back of her head (she likes to pin her coverings on by herself).

Mrs. V said...

Kristal! I'm glad to see you're still around,I know you must be busy. Your babies are so cute, I love the pics of Peyton doing her mommy training. I'm curious as to how a modern baby can be anti-plasic; he likes nothing in his mouth? I'm hoping we can make a HR trip in a year or 2 for V & C, I feel museum deprived over here. I would not call myself a regular sewer, there's a bodice sitting on my table that has been there a month, untouched. I'm over thinking it.

Hi Candy! I think it is hard for little girls who don't see anyone else like them around, I always point out covered ladies on the net if Charlotte's hanging around. Now I'm thinking she thinks I cover so the goats won't eat my hair. They love braids & beards. Another lady has started covering at church since we've been attending, though only for the service. Still, I'm glad that she can see a real life example other than me.

Anonymous said...

I love your aprons! The simple logistics of an apron are akin to that of a sun bonnett. They help to save the cloths for wear and tare. Thanks for sharing your different reasons for wearing aprons. I wear dresses or polo shirts with long skirts but hadn't given much thought to aprons for around the home. Thanks. Sincerely, Mommy of two little blessings & so much more!

Mrs. V said...

MOTLB, thanks for stopping by! Like a sunbonnet or other hat, I found that if they were hanging neatly in my closet, they were not being worn. I have to pre-po them linearly (sp?) or they got ignored. My clothes can generally go 2 or 3 days(skirts)between washes using them.